Chimeras Plus Alchemy Equals Love?
by Ace5980
Summary: Lela, Kayla, and Sonya Animalia are three chimeras with a horrible secret in thier pasts. When they get seperated, they all get put onto three rather different threads of the same adventure... EdxOC, EnvyxOC, GreedxOC
1. 1: Sins of the Past

Ace: Hahaha, this is my newest story, created mainly because I thought it would be funny to torture some people with chimeras. Anyway, the three chimeras are Lela, the oldest at the current age of 13.

Lela: Hello. *swishes tail and blinks eyes*

Ace: Then, there's Kayla, the middle girl at the current age of 12.

Kayla: Hiya! *tail wags happily*

Ace: Lastly, there's Sonya, the youngest at the current age of 11.

Sonya: *glares at everyone* Go away if you wish to live.

Ace: Ahahaha, um, Kayla, mind doing the disclaimer for me?

Kayla: Nope! Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

Lela: Enjoy...

* * *

1: Sins of the Past

If there were one word to sum up Lela Animalia's life as she saw it, it would be shame. She was supposed to protect them when their parents hadn't. Instead, she let those bastard Military's dogs have them all. Flinching, her slender tail twitched guiltily at the memory as she stared out of their small shelter at the rain falling outside.

"Blaming yourself again, Lela?"

Lela jumped, her fur bristling instinctively as claws shot out of her deft paws. She then relaxed at the familiar glowing yellow eyes of the second-oldest sibling, Kayla. "How can I not? It's my fault we're like this."

"No it isn't," Kayla growled firmly, her teeth gleaming ominously in what little light filtered into the room. "It's our parents' fault we're like this."

Lela snorted delicately, her black ears the last part of her body to conform to the movement. "Yeah, right."

"I'm serious." Kayla moved to scratch behind Lela's ears like she would to the younger girl herself but dropped her own silver-furred paw when she rememebered her older sister did not like to be pet.

"I know. It's just hard not to feel guilty when Sonya complains about not being able to see squat." Lela sighed, her green eyes asking why. Kayla understood Lela's guilt there; Sonya was the reason, partially anyway, they'd been experimented on. Sonya had been born blind and, now 11, could "see" only if she really tried and at great personal cost to both Kayla and Lela's sensitive ears, though neither ever complained to the bitter youngest sibling.

"Why don't you go for a walk? I can handle Sonya while you're gone."

Lela smiled gently. "In this weather?"

"Why not? You can _really_ run out there. It's not like anyone'll be watching."

Lela ruffled Kayla's shoulder-length silver hair, discreetly scratching behind her sister's ears. Kayla let out a little contented growl, her larger, shaggy silver-furred tail wagging happily for a moment before she pushed her older sister away. Neither of them noticed a subtle movement made in absolute silence as a smaller girl with cloudy red eyes stalked back to her little room. "They don't care about me," she sulked, locking her door and popping her window in surprisingly smooth motions for someone with such a serious vision impediment, "only about themselves." She looked out into the cascading rain, glad that she could still "see" around them so effectively. "I guess I'll have to give myself my own freedom."

Pausing uncertainly, she let out a high-pitched click, reassuring herself as her large velvety ears twitched with the incoming echoes. The rain wasn't falling all too quickly. She could make a flight easily without attracting notice. With that, she opened her arms and let herself fall out the window, trusting in her large velvet wings to effortlessly catch her and bear her away from there.

* * *

_Whyever did I let Kayla talk me into this?_ Lela mused, pausing under a tree's offered shelter from the infernal wetness. She shook out her paw, hating the water that flew from her fur with all her heart and soul. _Face it, Lela,_ she chuckled dryly, eyeing the dripping liquid with contempt, _you and water simply don't mix well._

_Not true, _some part of her sang, _You like showers just fine._

Lela thought about that for a moment. _Yeah, but that's willing subjection!_

_Suuuuure it is._

_... Isn't the fact that I'm having an argument with myself, and losing I might add, just a tad disturbing?_

_... Good point. _To Lela's surprise, her crazy other voice shut up then, leaving her right back where she'd started with the rain. She stared at it glumly, her tail swishing once behind her back as the rain picked up intensity.

"I guess I'll just have to wait it out," she muttered, resigned, and curled up on a large overhanging branch, resting her head on her front paws. Flicking her tail over her fingers, she let her eyelids droop shut as the rain lulled her into a peaceful, dreamless sleep.

* * *

Ace: *peeks out from behind door* How'd we do?

Kayla: They're all gone. I have alone time! *cuddles up to Ace looking for belly rubs*

Ace: Fine. *gives belly rubs*

Kayla: Review...


	2. 2: An Error in Directions

Ace: Another chapter up, and I still haven't solved thier problems or officially introduced our tormentees yet! *sigh*

Lela: It's okay, Ace.

Kayla: Everything'll get better eventually.

Ace: Thanks you two. Lela, would you mind?

Lela: Not at all. Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

Kayla: ENJOY!

* * *

2: An Error in Directions

_Shit_, Sonya thought, wings faltering again as the distinctive boom of a thunderclap resonated in her sensitive ears, _I can't see a thing in this storm!_ Whimpering as she felt the wind whistle past her and the raindrops sting her bare flesh due to her blunder, she desperately opened her wings up in an attempt to glide on whatever air currents she could find. The winds instantly picked her up like a doll, tearing at her clothing and leathery wings before throwing her against the hard concrete of a roof. She cried out at the impact, sending out waves to "see" the roof as she did so and hoping to find something to hide under until her older sisters found her.

As it turned out, she didn't have to. The wind caught under her wings, this time hurling the girl into the freezing metal side of a water container. Forcing her now-soggy wings to lie shut flat on her back, Sonya crawled under the water container. Once there, she pressed her ears against her head, cutting off some of the outside noise of the storm, and closed her eyes, wanting to use every inch of her enhanced senses to detect someone's approach and hopefully their identity _before_ she was discovered.

* * *

Kayla lay on the floor, happily curled up in a tight ball before a blazing fire. Her slitted yellow eyes gleamed in the fiery glow as she thought about her new friend, a friend she'd made without Lela or Sonya's knowledge or approval. He was an alchemist, so naturally, she hadn't revealed the fact she was a chimera to him yet. That didn't stop her from imagining what he would do to her right now if he did know though.

He would be sitting here beside her, letting her rest her head on his legs rather than on her paws. He would scratch behind her ears, laughing when her tail began thumping excitedly against his side. He would stroke her hair and cheek, perfectly fine when she would occasionally nip lightly at his hands.

_Oh yeah_, she thought, a contented hum emitting from her as her daydream turned to belly rubs, _being a chimera may not be all that bad, no matter what Lela or Sonya think on the matter_. She stifled a sleepy yawn, the warmth having a slightly sophoric effect on her. _W__e get special abilities, have different tendencies on the matter of pleasure, and enjoy the benefits of human society. Better yet, I have a cute boy as a friend, a nice pack to live with, and a roaring fire before me. Life couldn't get much better than this._ Feeling too good to justify what she considered "overly excessive movement", Kayla coiled herself into a tighter balled heap by the fire and closed her eyes, deciding a brief nap wouldn't be such a bad thing in a god-awful storm like what was going on outside.

* * *

Lela started from her slumber when a particularly fat drop of water fell onto her nose. Irritably washing the unwelcome liquid from her face, she pushed herself upright and set off to find yet another tree to cower under. _This is ridiculous,_ Lela thought, settling down in a lower branch with more cover, _At this rate, I'll never get home to Kayla and Sonya!_

She glared at the rain, finding it responsible for her inability to return to her sisters. S_tupid storm, with its inexcusable wetness! Still, I probably deserve it. Karma gets us all, and I've certainly done enough wrong in my life_. Her green eyes slid shut in pain as a single tear dripped from the corner of her eye. _After all, it _is_ my fault we all became chimeras in the first place, even if Kayla doesn't want to admit it but Sonya does._

Lela's claws shot out at the mention of Sonya. She couldn't help it; her youngest sister just triggered the survivalist inside of her. _I wonder how Kayla and Sonya_ _are_ _holding up right now._

* * *

Sonya was officially over thunderstorms. Every plink of the raindrops, every boom of thunder resonated in her head, messing with her "vision". Worse yet, her wings had a rather large tear in them, so even though they weren't spewing any blood, she couldn't fly away, storm or no storm.

In other words, the blind chimera girl was basically a sitting duck until Kayla or Lela found her, which wasn't an overly likely scenario anytime in the near future. She cowered a little closer to herself at yet another thunderclap, looking throughly miserable. _Someone, please save me._

Ace: Oh, so that's where Sonya was.

Kayla: Yep!

Lela: I hope we get out of the rain soon.

Ace: I don't think you'll want to when you find out what happens when you get out.

Lela: *grabs rough draft* WHAT THE-!

Kayla: *takes draft from Lela and has instant nosebleed* I never knew I could be so dirty...

Lela: If you review, I will personally tell you what we saw that made us so upset.

Ace: Nope, 'cuz that would mean spoilers!

Kayla: Then we'll just have to give you a virtual cookie!

Ace: Much better.

Lela: What's a virtual cookie?


	3. 3: Discovery, Capture, and Flight

Ace: OMG OMG OMG!

Kayla: WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT!

Lela: Oh no.

Ace: WE GOT OUR FIRST REVIEW!

Kayla: OMG OMG OMG!

Lela: Well, are you two gonna OMG all day or are you gonna answer it?

Ace: Right. I have to say that DarkVampirePrincess8 gets a virtual cookie first *hands cookie* then we can continue.

Lela: *rolls eyes* Thanks for the compliment.

Kayla: And trust me, feeling sorry for Sonya isn't a good thing nessicarily.

Sonya: I DON'T WANT OR NEED YOUR PITY!

Ace: Yeah, she's kind of a bitter harpy due to the whole blind-thing.

Sonya: And finally, I'd like to add that curiousity KILLED the CAT!

Lela: CURIOUSITY KILLED ME? *runs away*

Ace: SHOO, BITTER HARPY! *throws Sonya into sky, hopefully never to be seen again* Kayla, would you?

Kayla: Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist. Now, please enjoy this next chapter. *runs off to go comfort Lela*

* * *

3: Discovery, Capture, and Flight

_Oh good_, Lela thought happily, _the rain's letting up a little!_ She sat up, looking every inch a dignified house cat inspecting a napping spot rather than a half-drowned chimera girl anxiously waiting for the rain to stop. _I bet Sonya and Kayla'll be gladly awaiting my return, or Kayla at any rate. Sonya hates my guts most of the time, so I doubt she'll be too pleased to see me._

Coiling the muscles in her legs, she launched herself to the ground, landing easily on all fours. Just then, she caught the scent of something that wasn't a human or a chimera. Her head shot up in surprise. _What the hell?_

As she did that, something leaped out at her, pressing a cloth over her nose and mouth. _Chloroform_, she thought weakly as the scent hit her sensitive nose. She recognized the drug only through the sheer number of times those alchemists had used it against her. _Shit_, she thought weakly, struggling against impeding unconsciousness, _I hope Kayla and Sonya don't come looking for me and find this too..._

* * *

Sonya could tell the storm was nearing its end now; the raindrops were falling far less often and the thunder was gone completely. Hesitantly, she unfurled her ears and let out a quiet chirp, wanting to inspect the damage.

"Ow!" a masculine voice cried, badly startling the chimera girl into letting out a few more high-pitched squeaks. "Cut out the sonics crap, it hurts!" Sonya whimpered as a face poked down to look at her, catching sight of her leathery wings. "Whoa. You have a nice pair of wings there, now don't you? It's okay; I'm a chimera, just like you. The name's Dorochet."

"... Sonya."

"Come on then, Sonya. I'm sure the boss wouldn't want to miss meeting you."

Slowly, the young chimera came out of her hiding place, shaking her hair out and unfurling her wings so they could dry off before she grabbed hold of Dorochet's hand, letting him lead her away, all without a thought for her older sisters, Lela and Kayla.

* * *

Kayla awoke when the rain had stopped and the fire had burned down to cinders. Shaking out her bed head, the chimera pushed herself to her feet. Sniffing the air, she realized something was wrong. She couldn't catch any scent of either of her sisters more recent than when she'd told Lela to go out. Worrying, she ran upstairs first to Sonya's room, panicking when she found the door locked. Pausing long enough to trick to lock, she barreled in, only to find her younger sibling gone.

Needless to say, Kayla freaked. Being the loyal, protective person she was, she was not too reassured when Sonya's scent rail ended at the window, which she'd no doubt flew off from. She was even less reassured when she discovered Lela wasn't in her room either. Tearing through their house, searching for a note or explanation that wasn't there, Kayla was frantic. The rain had washed away all trace of her siblings, leaving poor little Kayla, who craved attention and human interaction of any kind, alone.

It was too much for Kayla to handle. She didn't really handle solitude well, never had and never would as a chimera. She simply needed someone to be nearby to provide a presence in her life. Better yet, she needed a leader because if there was one thing Kayla wasn't, it was a leader.

Luckily enough, Kayla had kept enough of her wits about her to quickly devise a temporary solution to her problem until Sonya and Lela could be located. She hurriedly pulled on concealing clothes and a hat to hide her ears. Shoving her paws into her coat pockets to make sure she didn't end up running four-legged in her haste, she sprinted out of the house, an abandoned wreck, heading towards the main part of Central.

* * *

Lela: So it was all just a metaphor? A cruel, thoughtless, tactless metaphor?

Ace: Yeah, sadly.

Kayla: And why do we live in an abandoned home?

Ace: Because you're SUPPOSED TO BE hiding from the Military, Kayla.

Kayla: I am hiding from the Military!

Ace: *raises eyebrow*

Kayla: *growls*

Lela: *sigh* Remember, reviews will be met this time with chloroform and our first subject, Greed! *rubs back of head as she holds Kayla back from eating Ace* Well, I may have lied about the chloroform...


	4. 4: Master, Boss, and Companion

Lela: Okay, why are you putting so many of these up right now, Ace?

Ace: 'Cuz, as you remember, I have a lot of the story already written up in a notebook. Up to chapter 6!

Kayla: Yay! There's another review, this time from DutchCherry12! *pushs Greed out the window*

Ace: Um, when Lela mentioned the chloroform, it was for your benefit, not his.

Lela: Once again, thanks for the compliment.

Sonya: And we aren't going to tell you what animals we are because that's part of what this chapter's about! *eyes narrow* I mean, come on, stupid humans.

Lela, Kayla, and Ace: SONYA!

Sonya: Am I not allowed to state an opinion?

Ace: Not unless you do the disclaimer too!

Sonya: Fine! Ace5980 does not own Death Note.

Kayla: YAY! ON WITH THE STORY!

* * *

4: Master, Boss, and Companion

Sonya didn't dare chirp, so basically, she was walking behind this Dorochet chimera, who was a good deal more helpful once he'd figured out she was blind. In her opinion, the sewer they were trekking through was a little tiny bit of an overkill, but she was in no position to complain, not when Dorochet's sense of smell was so much more powerful than her own._ The only good thing about my predicament, _she mused,_ is that the echoes of our footsteps can paint a vague picture of our surroundings for me._

* * *

Kayla sighed with relief when she picked up a familiar scent, the one she was looking for. She purposely trailed it to its eventual end at a door in an inn. She knocked loudly, her panic and worry returning as she stood there. The fear of discovery tended to do that to Kayla. A suit of armor opened the door to a nervously dancing Kayla. "Kayla, what are you doing here?"

"Need to talk to Ed. Where is he?"

"Sleeping."

"Thanks Al!" she yelped, dashing past him, switching to using all four legs in her distraction. Her hat flew off in the hallway area, and she burst into Ed's room, jumping onto his bed and waking him.

"What the hell, Kayla?" he yelled, then he caught sight of her ears poking out of her silver hair.

"Edward," she murmured, cuddling closer to him and burying her head in his hair.

"Are you some kind of puppy chimera or something?" he demanded, trying in vain to push her away from him so that he could breathe properly without feeling her hair tickling his face.

"Wolf actually. Much more dangerous."

"Uh huh," he muttered, _totally_ convinced. "So you don't like being pet and having your ears scratched or your belly rubbed?"

"Actually," Kayla admitted lazily, licking along Edward's neck, "those all do sound pretty nice."

* * *

Lela awoke just in time to be unceremoniously dropped onto an unfamiliar black leather couch. She pushed herself shakily to more of a sitting position to see a boy with palm-tree-like hair smirk at her. "Now, you stay right here, little kitten," he purred, "you wouldn't want to get eaten, would you?" He left without giving Lela a chance to replay, the satisfied smirk remaining on his face still.

"Ooh, Lust, look, it's a chimera! May I eat her?" A fat man waddled over to poor Lela, picking her up by the scruff of her neck.

Some lady with curly hair and big boobs looked her over for a moment. "I don't see why not. She doesn't have any claiming marks on her anywhere."

"Actually, Lust, she's mine, and I'd prefer it if Gluttony didn't eat her, as it were." Palm tree boy was back.

"But Envy," the fat guy pouted, "you never labeled her as yours."

"Because I was going to get her collar," Envy added, buckling a black leather cat collar degradingly around Lela's neck. "Now, drop her."

Gluttony complied, letting go of poor Lela like she was acid. As she fell, Lela could read the writing on her tag, _Envy's kitten_. Wasn't this going to be fun? "Actually," she muttered dryly to herself, "I'm part panther."

* * *

Sonya was both glad and disappointed to leave the sewer. She may have hated the smell, but at least she could "see" down in there. Following Dorochet because it was the only option she could currently see, she walked until a hand, not Dorochet's, pushed up on her chin. "Who's this, Dorochet?" a male voice asked, "she certainly is cute."

"My name is Sonya, and in case you haven't noticed, I'm blind and can't see you."

There was a dry chuckle. "My name is Greed, little Sonya, and I bid you welcome to my home, the Devil's Nest, a hideout for well-to-do chimeras such as yourself. Now tell me, what animal are you?"

Sonya cocked her head, finding herself liking this Greed already. "Bat. I'm part bat."

"Why don't you use echo-location to see then?"

"Because it hurts Dorochet's ears when I chirp that high."

"Then, my dear Sonya, you simply must go higher, up out of poor Dorochet's range."

A smile lit up Sonya's face. "Okay then," she murmured, letting out a higher pitched chirp than any she had ever dared to utter before. To her amazement and awe, she could now see _everything_.

* * *

Ace: This chapter is dedicated to my friend, Lust, without whom I would not have decided to find a character she'd hate more than anything else I've ever created and then, Kayla would not be here.

Kayla: THANKS LUST!

Sonya: I will hunt you down and gut you like a fish, Lust...

Lela: NO HUNTING PEOPLE DOWN AND GUTTING THEM LIKE A FISH!

Sonya: Fine then. I guess I'll just offer Ed up as a reward for reviews instead...

Lela: Speaking of your friend Lust, weren't there other people in your FullMetal Alchemist, or what you call FullMetal Sexy B*tch Pirate, character assignments?

Ace: Heck yeah! I can find my friend Gluttony on here, our science teacher is Sloth, and I'm Greed. I WANT MONEY! I WANT WOMEN! I WANT LAND, FAME!

Kayla: Okay then...


	5. 5: A Change of Alliance

Ace: Waah, I'm drowning in reviews! 7 before the new chapter! *falls to ground*

Kayla: We'll help you then!

Sonya: First reviewer: DutchCherry12. Let's say you can have Al, because we all know I don't care about them, and Ace doesn't care about your abuse because you have a good excuse, here's the next chapter for you to read so she's obviously not giving up because she's already reached chapter 8, which is entirely dedicated to me since chapter 7 avoids me completely, and as for you, Yuki, I will call your friend whatever I want because YOU AREN'T THE BOSS OF ME, SO HA!

Lela: Second reviewer: Furorensu-Chan. Thanks for the compliment; Ace really appriciates it. You may have your virtual cookie *hands cookie*, the authors' notes are quite frankly the funnest part for Ace to write because she makes everything up as she goes, thanks again for the compliments, and as you can see, we have updated.

Sonya: Oh great. I'm doing DarkVampirePrincess8 again. Yes, Dorochet is friendly, I accept your apology, however I still plan on killing you, of course Lela's a feline because it would make no sense for her to be anything but, and as for Kayla, well, you ain't seen nothing yet.

Kayla: Bloody Bonez Alchemist XD; before I answer your review, I'd like to say that I just love your name. Would you mind if I borrow it if I ever became a State Alchemist like Edward? Anyway, thanks for the compliment too, and I'd personally like to see what happens next too, because Ace doesn't like showing us her little notebook-draft until she's typing it up, so we have no clue what we've done until everyone else does too.

Lela: And, before Ace asks for it, Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

Ace: *sniff* I love you guys! *hugs*

Kayla: Enjoy!

* * *

5: A Change of Alliance

Lela was surprised Envy could carry her so easily by the scruff of her neck with his slender body but not by too much. Her paws dangled by her boobs, rather exactly like they would if she were a house cat rather than a chimera, a person, and her tail hung limply behind her as though lifeless. To tell the truth, she felt more like a badly behaving cat than the girl she really was. She was dropped unceremoniously on a bed with blood-red sheets, unable to catch herself before she fell on her face, the metal tag slapping her in the chin. _Okay, this has got to be the single most humiliating experience of my life._

"No," she muttered, pushing herself up and raising her head.

Envy's purple eyes narrowed dangerously as he stormed over to stand before her. "What did you say, kitten?" he hissed, each word daring Lela to defy him.

"Well, I was thinking this was the most humiliation I've ever experienced, but then I remembered how it felt to betray my only companions, my family, to the alchemists who made us into these monsters. Nothing could ever compare to that shame. I can never regain the honor and dignity I lost that day, on matter how hard I try."

Envy laughed, his green hair falling into his eyes. "Trust me, kitten, when I say there is nothing more shameful than being a pet to pure evil, to the true monstrosity known as Envy the homunculus!" Suddenly realizing the true depth of her predicament, Lela dropped her eyes to her back paws, knowing that if she was ever captured, the alchemists had yet another reason to kill her where she stood now.

* * *

Eventually, Edward managed to herd Kayla out of his room long enough to shower and put on some proper clothes rather than only his pajama bottoms. He came out to see the wolf girl pawing sadly at her abandoned hat, her gloves left on a coffee table beside Al. She looked up at Ed, her yellow eyes shining sadly, and murmured, "This was Lela's hat."

"Who's Lela?" Al asked gently, trying not to upset her further.

With more important matters on his mind, Ed didn't bother with such trivalties. "There were more of you?"

Kayla nodded, sniffling. "Yeah, and even though they weren't wolves, like me, I always thought of us as a pack. Lela was the oldest and our Alpha. She was part panther but lived with a lot of guilt and shame because she held herself responsible for our change. Sonya was the youngest and as blind as her animal, a bat. She was also bitter of being the only chimera without sight." Here, her tail and head drooped. "Because of that storm last night, I can't track them, so I guess I'm pack-less now, and it's all my fault.

"I'll be part of your new pack, Kayla!" Al reassured her, "Me and Ed and Winry and Pinako and Den. We'll be your pack, and we'll even look for Lela and Sonya on our travels too!"

The crying Kayla looked up, Edward coming over to pet her head comfortingly. "Okay."

* * *

Sonya liked Greed and Dorochet. They weren't afraid of her intimidating bat wings or her uncanny blind stare as most people were, which only increased young Sonya's opinion of them. In fact, they had even persuaded a spider chimera by the name of Eve, a close friend of Dorochet's who he was sweet on, to help patch up her battered wing membranes.

Still, she wasn't expecting Greed's offer in any case. She sat outside, loving the warmth of the sun on her face, when he made his move. "Sonya, I know this is rather sudden, but how would you like to work for me?"

She blinked, cocking her head. "But I'm only eleven."

"And I'm only a rogue homunculus. Neither of us, quite frankly, are in any state to listen to any type of government now, especially when said government is run by hypocritical bastards and homunculi."

"Good point." Sonya was quiet for a moment, contemplating the pros and cons to working for Greed versus living with her sisters. It was no contest. "I'll do it."

* * *

Lela: Answering reviews is hard work.

Kayla: You said it.

Sonya: Don't review anymore. It's not worth it!

Lela: Don't listen to the grumpy bat, we love answering reviews!

Kayla: So long as they aren't flames. The only flames we're allowed to deal with are the ones involving Colonel Mustang, and quite frankly, we have more than enough of those.

Ace: Yeah. I'm still missing eyebrows from the last one he did.

Lela: What are you drawing, Ace?

Ace: Kayla. *shrugs* Ed asked me to.

Lela: Okay then.

Kayla: Reviews get you Envy this time! Yay Envy!

Lela: *glare* Yeah, because he's just a barrel of monkeys, now isn't he?

Sonya: Do I detect sarcasm?

Lela: *blinks* How'd you know?

Sonya: I'm the queen of sarcasm.

Lela, Ace, and Kayla: Oh.


	6. 6: Year of Changing Methods

Ace: The number of reviews doesn't scare me today.

Lela: Well that's a relief. We'll start with Furorensu-Chan first, then. Yes, Ace is currently a fast updater, so long as she's interested in the story like she is now, and as you can also see, she updated yet again. I agree with you on not wanting Envy. He does smell rather suspicious, though that could be because I'm a cat chimera with a sensitive nose...

Kayla: Your turn, Sonya.

Sonya: OH COME ON! DarkVampirePrincess8 again? I hate you so much right now, Kayla. Of course I'm going to go be badass with Greed the badass. Us badass people have to stick together in these difficult, badass-less times. And you should be concerned about Kayla. The girl reveals her strangest occasion, the one that always makes me think she's been put on something, in the very next chapter.

Lela: Oh, and thanks for the wish. I don't think luck is going to help me with my master though. *sighs and makes face as she plays with collar*

Ace: Kayla, would you-

Kayla: Course! Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist. Now, enjoy!

* * *

6: Year of Changing Methods

(1 year later)

Lela had found a box of abandoned kittens yesterday, finding an instant attraction to them, a need to protect and nurture them. Unfortunately, Gluttony made the same discovery about an hour later when Lela forced to shower, and he didn't feel the same desires as Lela had upon seeing them. In fact, when Lela had come out and couldn't find them anywhere, she had completely broken down.

Then Gluttony had come in with his patented sad face while bearing another stray kitten he'd found as an apology, which instantly made Lela forgive him. Lela fell in love the instant she saw the cute little black kitten with green eyes. She gave it no reason to be even remotely hostile to her, keeping it in a constant state of lazy purring kitten. She fed it from her own bowl, which, sadly enough, Envy had provided instead of normal plates and cutlery, and let it play with her tail with its unremoved claws and sharp pointy little kitten teeth, which were more than enough to break through her skin, but she didn't mind. As day turned to night and Lela settled herself down in a nest of blankets in Envy's bed, her only concern was as to where the homunculus had been all day before she shrugged it off and cuddled with the kitten.

The next morning, she lost the kitten but gained the answer. She awoke to find, rather than a cute, fluffy little kitten cradled to her chest, her master's head buried in the crook of her neck. "What?" he asked innocently when her body froze and her pulse picked up. He smirked slightly, eying her through a light scattering of his hair. "Did you not like the kitten?"

* * *

Sonya really liked working for Greed. She liked being treated the exact same way as everyone else, recieving no allowances for being blind. She liked feeling as if she belonged to a group, a coven almost, for the first time in her life.

"Hey Sonya," Greed said, instantly catching the bat girl's attention, "there's some guys looking for you in town; they're asking a lot of questions about you specifically this time."

"So?"

"Are you going to do something about it?"

Sonya thought for a moment. "Yep, I guess." Then she walked out as though absolutely nothing had occurred out of the ordinary.

If only she hadn't gone solo. She was ambushed the instant she left the Devil's Nest, wrapped in heavy chains, and forced to inhale some kind of new, more effective sedative tranquilizer that was not chloroform, which she'd built up a tolerance to after being exposed to it for so long. As she grew steadily more woozy trying to find her attacker's identity or identities, a cold, cruel voice spoke up. "Don't worry, little Sonya Animalia. We're only taking you from your infernal older sisters to finish your modifications. You're going home, little Sonya-bat."

Ice water flew through Sonya's veins as she weakly attempted to struggle. In her mind, going to this home was worse than death. Unfortunately for her, all it took was another dose of sedative to render her completely and totally incapacitated. She was no longer a threat in any way possible.

* * *

It was official; Kayla was moping. It wasn't that she disliked Winry, Pinako, and Den, far from it, but more that she liked Edward and her sisters, none of whom she had the slightest inkling of where they could possibly be, more. Then she sensed something, her ears twitching and head jerking up. "Edward!" she cried upon recognition, running out to tackle the alchemist with his malfunctioning arm and unintentionally rescuing him form yet another wrench to the head. Tail wagging excitedly, she licked his nose.

"Kayla, get off!" Grinning, the chimera listened to the alchemist, choosing to solicit attention from Al instead. Once they stepped inside, however, Kayla stuck close to Ed, whining and leaning against him affectionately when he was getting his arm fixed, before, as usual, the Elric brothers gathered themselves up to leave. Then came the touchy part.

"Hey Ed, Al, have you guys found anything on Lela or Sonya?"

"No."

"Sorry, Kayla."

"Oh," she murmured, tail and ears drooping. "Thanks for trying anyway though." With all the people she loved most leaving her, she felt more depressed than ever.

"Kayla," Ed said slowly, "how would you like to come traveling with us?"

There was a shocked silence. Then she squealed, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" while she hugged him, her tail spazzing before she ran off to grab her people clothes. This was what she'd really wanted all along.

* * *

Kayla: OMG, we've gotten a year older!

Ace: Meh, sorta kinda. You still have another two years to go before we really get back into it again.

Sonya: And you include a decent description of us.

Ace: Exactly.

Lela: This time, let's offer up Dorochet as a reward. *pales* He probably won't get us a lot of reviews though.

Sonya: I'm okay with that.

Kayla: I'm not. REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!


	7. 7: Year of Changing Motives

Kayla: WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, ACE? I THOUGHT YOU'D BEEN EATEN BY GIANT DOGS NAMED ALEXANDER OR BEATEN TO A PULP BY A HOMICIDAL PALM TREE OR SMOTHERED BY A GIANT GUY WITH SPARKLES OR SOMETHING!

Ace: No, Kayla. I just got myself grounded, but I'm ungrounded now, so I can work with you three again.

Sonya: Whoop de doo.

Lela: Come on, I think we've neglected the reviews long enough. I'll start with Furorensu-Chan. I do agree, Dorochet is a much better reward than my master, but I personally would rather not have the Playboy Alchemist. And, as you can see, Ace didn't lose interest in the story, she just got in trouble and now has writer's block, which we'll explain later, okay?, okay.

Kayla: Thanks for all the compliments and stuff, Bloody Bonez Alchemist XD, and I too was overjoyed when Ed asked me to come along with him! But I don't think anyone really wants to know what happens next with us... *blushes* Oh, and by the way, WHY DIDN'T YOU ANSWER MY QUESTION?

Sonya: DarkVampirePrincess8 again? *glare* I hate you three so much right now. Anyway, yes, Envy needs to go someplace nasty, but not for torturing my sister since I think she enjoyed that, and I hate Ace for making me get captured. Again. And, trust me, while Kayla is not depressed or vaguely suicidal like the rest of her sisters, she still has to put up with her stupidity.

Ace: Lela, would you mind?

Lela: Of course not. Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist. Now, please, enjoy the new chapter.

* * *

7: Year of Changing Motives

(1 year later)

Sonya had lost all sense of time due to the fact she was unconscious most of the time so she wouldn't prove too unruly, but when she was awake, she was restrained, blindfolded, gagged, studied, and normally injected with something she didn't really care about anymore. She was simply another experiment, unaware of what was being done to her the same way a lab rat was clueless as to what happened to it.

But today was different. Today, Sonya awoke to the sound of crashing, screams, and sirens resonating in her ears. At first, after the disorientation had worn off, she was frightened. Then a pair of cold metal hands stroked along her face with surprising gentleness, careful not to scratch her with the claw-like ends to the fingers. She shifted, letting out a quiet moan. "Sonya, Sonya, Sonya, that's no way to treat your rescuer, now is it?" a familiar voice asked, freeing her mouth and body with a few swipes.

"Greed?" she gasped, shocked that the homunculus had bothered to save her after so long. "Did anyone else come?"

She could almost hear the smile in his voice when he said, "Nope, it's just me here since it was more of a chance happening I was on when I found this place rather than a planned rescue."

"Why'd you save me then?"

"I count my chimeras as my property, and as Greed, I don't like it when people mess with my things."

"Thanks Greed," she murmured, unwinding the cloth over her eyes. "Holy shit," she gasped, going stiff.

"What?"

"I can _see_."

* * *

Lela was normally a well-kept chimera. But apparently, today, she just wasn't clean enough for Envy's tastes. He stormed into their room in one of his tempers, picker her up by the scruff of her neck, carried her into the bathroom, and dunked her into the already filled tub, clothes and all. She did not fight him. No biting, no scratching, no squirming, no splashing, nothing. She just sat there in the water, tail tucked around her, and let him have complete control.

Confused, the sin paused in his scrubbing to look at her. It was hard to tell between the sheer amount of water and Lela's dripping wet hair serving as a curtain, but she almost seemed to be _crying_. "kitten?" he asked uncertainly, feeling a little guilty, "are you okay?"

"Yeah," she sniffed, "fine." She was lying, and he knew it.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done this to you."

She looked at him in shock, her green eyes shining. So she _had_ been crying, like he'd suspected she was. "No, you shouldn't have, but since you did, you might as well finish what you started," she murmured finally, startling him. "Just be a little gentler with your scrubbing, please. You're pulling my fur out."

"Wouldn't want you going bald, now would we?" he sulked, going back to what he'd been doing. Lela couldn't help but notice though that his strokes were gentler, more like a mother cat's tongue swabbing at its baby kitten than a slave scrubbing away at a dirt-encrusted floor. It actually felt _nice_ on her fur. Not that either of them would ever admit it, of course. Appearances did have to be maintained.

* * *

Kayla couldn't find Ed in the apartment, so she found her way to Al instead. "Where's Edward?" she asked, her yellow eyes begging him to tell her.

"He's taking a bubble bath-"

"BUBBLE BATH! I LOVE BUBBLE BATHS!" Using her chimera speed, she ran into the bathroom, shedding clothes as she went, and dove into the tub, slopping bubbles and water all over Ed and the floor. Neither of her victims had seen it coming.

"Kayla," he spluttered, wiping bubbles from his face, "what do you think you're _doing_?"

She looked up innocently. "Playing with the bubbles."

"Kayla-"

"PLEASE LET ME STAY!" she yelped, jumping on top of him. Unbeknownst to her but beknowst to him, her back paws had landed beside his hips, in effect straddling him, a front paw was beside his chest against the side, while her remaining paw was up by her chest.

Despite the compromising situation, he could not resist her puppy-dog eyes. "Fine, you can stay. Just don't look."

"Yay!" She quickly licked his nose, making a spluttering sound as she slid away because she'd accidentally gotten a bubble or two in her mouth at the same time. "Promise I won't!"

Watching her move away in shock, Ed suddenly realized something, something very important. "Kayla, your chest is bigger now," he blurted before he could stop himself.

She looked down at herself. "My ninja boobs aren't so ninja anymore! Yes!"

"... Getting out now."

About fifteen minutes later, Kayla timidly walked up to Ed, both of them now clothed. "Sorry," she murmured, rolling over to flash her belly in a classic wolf show of surrender.

"It's okay," he huffed, ruffling her hair, "You just aren't allowed to get in bubble baths with people ever again."

"Deal."

* * *

Sonya: Now, does everyone understand why I hate being related to these losers?

Lela: Sonya! That wasn't nice!

Kayla: You hate being related to me? *sniffle*

Ace: Blah blah blah, family rivalry, now I need to abuse my power as author!

Lela and Sonya: Oh crap.

Ace: As Lela told everyone, I am suffering from a teeny, tiny bit of writer's block. The thing is though, it's all because of that stupid Lab 5. Now, to justify myself doing this, I need to know if I should follow the manga for Lab 5, making it easier on myself, or if I should follow the anime, which would be harder but provide less factual inaccuracies. You see, if I went with the manga the whole way, I would end up having to kill off Sonya, which I don't think she wants.

Sonya: YOU'D KILL ME OFF! WHY YOU LITTLE-

Ace: Um, I have to run now, but please, drop me a review with your opinion if you ever want me to logically get past chapter 11!

Lela: *sigh* Reviewers will be rewarded with a magical bobble-head of the character of your choice, manga or first anime. And please, help Ace. I want to be able to figure out what I know that my sisters don't!

Kayla: And I want to be able to rape Ed!

*Everyone stares at Kayla with wide eyes*

Ace: Okay then. There's all the reasoning, so get on it, faithful (and not-so-faithful) fans!


	8. 8: A Trip to Liore

Ace: Hey, look, lots of fan-mail/reviews for Sonya.

Sonya: *glare* I hate you all.

Lela: Sonya, be nice. *hands reviews*

Sonya: Hey, Lela, this one's for you. It's from Furorensu-Chan, whom I now hate because YOU WANT ME TO GO OFF MYSELF!

Ace: Um, I never told them about that part.

Sonya: Oh.

Lela: What the? I guess he might not be a playboy. Envy could have been lying when he said Roy wasn't quite the ho he and everyone else thought he was...

Sonya: Okay, EternalHypernova, you are officially on my hit list. No one calls me little or batgirl except Greed, and that's because I can't kick his butt into the next millennium. But you're way down there for saying I'm cool and making Ace's day by complimenting her story and choosing the bobble-head of her double.

Kayla: Okay, Bloody Bonez Alchemist XD now. I asked you a while ago if you minded me borrowing your name for when I become a State Alchemist just like Ed, but you never answered me. It made me sad. And yes, I liked jumping in there with Ed too, though I think he had rather mixed emotions about that...

Sonya: DarkVampirePrincess8, once again, for me. *reads review* HOLY SHIT! First off, Kayla is not wild, she's just stupid.

Kayla: Hey! I'm not stupid!

Sonya: Secondly, Envy is only nicer because he enjoys punishing his kitten when there isn't a chance of her smacking him upside the head with wet fur.

Lela: I don't do that!

Sonya: And finally, I suddenly no longer wish to murder you in your sleep because you defended me from having to go off myself and were happy that I can now see.

Ace: *in small voice* Now that you're happy, Sonya, would you do the disclaimer?

Sonya: ... Fine. Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist. *sniff* I hope you all enjoy the chapter, 'cuz I'm not in this one.

* * *

8: A Trip to Liore

(1 year later)

Lela did not like being left behind when Envy went on missions since it brought on spurts of depression. Coincidentally, the homunculus didn't like leaving her without a babysitter for more than a day after she tried to take her life three months ago. He'd also learned to get rid of his excess prescription medications that day. Then she'd taken up cutting herself, shallow, superficial wounds every time, behind everyone's backs.

Thus, she was taken with him, Lust, and Gluttony when they all went to Liore. She may as well have been left at home since they left her alone in the little room. Then again, maybe not; Envy _had_ tied her to the bed with the cat collar before they'd left.

Lela didn't bother to test her boundaries or attempt an escape. Her space was no doubt severely limited and escaping would only end in recapture on her part. Instead, the chimera rolled over onto her back and glared at the ceiling, hating the way her new clothes rubbed her fur and hair the wrong way. After the cutting was discovered, Envy had decided that as Lela's master, he was entitled to deciding what his kitten wore now, leaving her with little choice and no input into the matter. She kept the collar of course, but her old clothes all went. He first brought her a cut-off tee, black to match the collar, and a pair of skin-tight shorts, also black, with a hole cut for her tail, and that was only her first discarded gear he'd brought her. When she and Envy finally reached an agreement on an outfit for her, the shorts had changed to a knee-length skort similar to his and the tee to a black leather vest, zippered. She thought she'd die of shame by now.

Lela played absently with her zipper, glad she'd cut a hole for her tail in the skort too. The light slowly faded from the room as the sun went down, but she didn't bother turning on a light, knowing her eyes had far superior night vision than a normal human's thanks to the alchemists. It was only once the stars had come out that they returned, Lust complaining loudly about some Cornello guy. Lela pushed herself up lazily, turning her gaze expectantly to the door.

She was not disappointed. Envy, also in a fouler temper than usual from their dealings with Cornello, came in quickly, closing the door behind him and instantly began roughly stroking his kitten. She permitted this, by now knowing better than to fight or deny him, and he carefully checked her over for injuries, finding none he hadn't placed on her himself. But to her surprise, Lela actually found herself _purring_ for the first time as his fingers danced over her skin, fur, and healing wounds. How odd.

* * *

Kayla didn't like being left behind, not one little bit. Why else would she venture forth from their hotel room, against explicit orders not to on Edward's part, dressed in a dark blue cut-off spaghetti-strap shirt, a pair of long jeans, dark blue overcoat that seemed vaguely reminiscent to that of the Amestris Military ones, her pair of sturdy white leather gloves, dusty brown boots, and a worn-out faded brown hat here in Liore? Contrary to the Elrics' belief, Kayla Animalia had _not_ come here expecting to find Lela or Sonya. No, she'd given that search up years ago, pushing it firmly aside to more of a hobby or something to do if she had the time. Instead, she'd come here partially to help them search for the Philosopher's Stone and mainly because they were her pack now, Ed was her undisputed Alpha, and she was merely following orders. Of course, it _did_ help when she was as fond of someone as she was of Edward Elric, FullMetal Alchemist of the military of Amestris.

When Edward and Alphonse came towards her, unhurt, a relieved smile found its way across her features. She bounded over to them, quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching them, and licked Ed's nose like she always would. It didn't matter to her how much time went by; every time she was left alone, she always expected alchemists other than the two of them to haul her away to perform horrible experiments upon her like they used to. It was an irrational fear, she knew, but it was one only Ed could chase away.

She had to ask. "Did you-"

"No," Ed murmured bitterly, "it was an imitation, and it crumbled when he over-exerted it."

"I'm sorry." She paused. "I didn't find anything on my sisters either, if it makes you feel any better." Not that she had bothered to look.

"Not really. Looks like Liore was a dead end after all."

"Yeah," Kayla murmured distractedly, "I guess it was."

* * *

Lela sometimes couldn't believe what had happened to her over the past forever. Apparently, the Cornello guy had failed miserably and Lust had been forced to take him out. There was no excuse for incompetence for the homunculi, extenuating circumstances or not. Lela could understand that.

Just because she understood it, however, did not mean she thought it was right. She didn't. She also didn't think she should be forced to watch the murder either, but Envy disagreed, and since he was the master, she watched. She may have hid behind him, peeking out from behind his hair, when Lust performed the horrible deed, but she watching it all the same.

* * *

Sonya: Ace, I hate you so much right now. Why am I not involved in this chapter?

Ace: Um, because I thought I kinda went a little too long to include you. But don't worry; you get the entire next chapter all to yourself!

Sonya: Oh good. Now all you Sonya-haters have to suffer for an entire chapter while the story moves on! Mwahahahaha!

Kayla: I brought balloons for the reviewers! *plays with blue balloon tied to tail*

Lela: Um, Kayla, where are the other balloons?

Kayla: Oh, I gave them all to Ed to hold onto!

Ed: *distant* KAYLA!

Kayla: OMG OMG OMG, I'M SO SORRY EDWARD! I DIDN'T KNOW THE BALLOONS WOULD MAKE YOU FLOAT AWAY!

Ed: GET ME DOWN FROM HERE, KAYLA!

Kayla: *runs off* I'm on it!

Sonya: *sighs* I'd better help them, right? But, if there are any balloon survivors after I'm done with them, you reviewers are welcome to them. *flies away*

Lela: I'll go blow up more balloons and tie them to Envy this time. He's heavy enough to not be forced into orbit. *walks away*

Ace: AND I STILL NEED RECOMMENDATIONS PEOPLE! MANGA LAB 5 OR FIRST ANIME LAB 5? I NEED HELP TO GET PAST THE WRITER'S BLOCK AND WILL CONTINUE TO HOLD CHAPTER 12, THE CHAPTER WHERE THEY ACTUALLY DO ALL GO TO LAB 5, HOSTAGE UNTIL MY DEMANDS ARE MET!

Sonya: *chucks fire extinguisher, which no one quite knows where she got it from, at Ace* STOP ABUSING THE CAPS-LOCK BUTTON!

Ace: MAKE ME!

Sonya: WITH PLEASURE! *dives for Ace*

Ace: OH SHIT! *runs for cover*


	9. 9: Sonya's Unnatural, Uncontrollable

Ace: Sonya, more fan-mail!

Sonya: I hate you, Ace.

Lela: *dutifully hands reviews* By the way, Furorensu-Chan, looking at your review, which is first as usual and kinda freaking out the authoress a little, I would like to say that you are my favorite reviewer because I'm your favorite, and-

Envy: ROY MUSTANG IS A WHORE, BUT NOT AS MUCH OF A WHORE AS HE THINKS HE IS!

Lela: Master! I thought Ace told you to wait until later!

Envy: This is all the screen time we're getting, so shut your trap!

Sonya: I STILL HATE YOU FOR WANTING ME TO DIE!

Edward: Okay, EternalHypernova is next. *reads through* HOLY SHIT, YOU WANT ME TO BE RAPED BY KAYLA!

Kayla: I love you, Ed! *licks face*

Ed: *runs away*

Sonya: I think that manga without my death will be the general consensus with the authoress, but I don't know. I really don't want to die. She's already sorta planning a scene where I meet up with Ed and Kayla...

Ace: *looks up from paper guiltily* YOU'RE LYING!

Sonya: Yes, DarkVampirePrincess8, I was going to kill you in your sleep, but now I'm not, and I wasn't in the last chapter 'cuz I get this one all to myself!

Lela: Thanks for the advice though. *sniff* The guilt just piles up sometimes.

Envy: AND I MAY BE A CROSS-DRESSER AND A BASTARD, BUT I SO DO RESPECT MY KITTEN!

Ed: PEOPLE NEED TO STOP THINKING KAYLA AND I ARE TOGETHER! WE'RE JUST FRIENDS, RIGHT KAYLA?

Kayla: Huh? Oh, yeah, no kissing yet though. I still have a nice little angsty part before we get that far. Actually, Ace still needs to get through that...

Ace: Gah, what is with you spoilers today?

Kayla: No mores today. Instead, we'll do the disclaimer and leave the final review for afterwards. I have work to do! *runs off, dragging Ed by braid*

Ace: Ooookay then.

Greed: Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

Sonya: NOW ENJOY THIS CHAPTER OF ME!

* * *

9: Sonya's Unnatural, Uncontrollable Cravings

(Same time as previous chapter)

No matter what Sonya did, she could not quite satisfy her hunger, not since she'd escaped from the alchemists again with Greed's help. It was not one that could be sated with meat, fruit, milk, or anything else. Naturally, her mind made the necessary leap in insight to reach the conclusion of the alchemists had done something big to her when they'd captured her, likely something involving the various needles she'd been injected with during the time. "I can't take it anymore!" she yelled, throwing yet another unsatisfactory half-eaten apple out the window in frustration. The other chimeras, Dorochet, Martel, and Law, and Greed looked at her strangely.

"Sonya?" Greed asked cautiously, "Are you okay?"

"No," she hissed, her wings snapping in her irritation and her hands balling into fists as a sharp pain went through her teeth, centering mainly in her canines for some reason. "I am _not_ okay."

Greed got up from his couch, going over to her and distracting her from her current homicidal rage by tugging on the end of one of the laces on the bodice of her short strapless black dress. "What's wrong, Sonya? You seem more pissed off than usual, even when it is your time of the month."

She sighed, relaxing as she shooed his fingers away from the black leather laces on her side. "One, I don't have a time of the month, Greed, and two, I'm pissed because those alchemists did something and I don't know what the hell it is!"

Martel, Sonya's least favorite chimera, snorted. "Of course they did something. Greed brings you back and you, the little blind girl, are suddenly blessed with the gift of sight. Personally, I would be a little more grateful and a lot less bitchy if I were you."

Sonya's eyes flashed, the red burning through its cloudy cover, and her wings snapped open, making her look like a wrathful demoness. "Whore," she snarled, stomping away. Dorochet sighed, running after her, only to find she'd flown off before he could catch her.

"I'm sorry, Greed," he apologized upon his return, "I lost her."

"Don't worry, Dorochet. She'll come back eventually, I promise."

* * *

Sonya liked flying. Really, she did. However, it was the single thing most likely to result in her getting caught, so she could never do it for long, especially since she went through various relapses. Her vision was very iffy to say the least. Sometimes, rather than the normal 20/20 color vision most humans saw in, she saw in black-and-white or heat, if she saw at all. As a result, flying became a guilty pleasure for the chimera since she didn't want to attract any unwanted attention to the Devil's Nest, not when she and the other chimeras could be captured or worse and Greed could very well be taken back to the other homunculi he'd told her about.

Which was why she made her flight to the laboratory Greed had rescued her form as short as she could. She touched down smoothly outside of Lab 5, her wings folding back out of her way. All was quiet as she walked through the abandoned facility, but Sonya did not care that the only sounds in this place were made by the echoing of her knee-length high-heeled black leather boots on the cold, dusty concrete floor. No, what she cared about was a certain person in the building next door, someone who was at least partially responsible for what she'd become.

The chimera slipped through the long corridors of the prison, blatantly ignoring the calls of the doomed prisoners in the cells alongside her. She came to a stop outside of one cell in particular and leaned against the bars. "Hello, Crimson," she said conversationally, momentarily startling the man inside.

"Hello, Sonya." Even though Zolf Kimbley hadn't been responsible for turning her into a chimera, he still knew all her gory details, thus making him her information center when she needed to know something about alchemy or more particularly, about the alchemy binding her together. "I can tell this isn't a social visit. It never is with you."

"Correct. I need to know what those bastards did to me when they fixed my vision more or less."

"Ah." He leaned back, the marks on his hands catching Sonya's eye, but she didn't rise to the bait and waited patiently for him to continue. It was, after all, his time to waste. "They injected you with a serum to screw around with your DNA some more," he finally stated bluntly.

"What animal?"

"Hmm?" He pretended not to understand her.

Her eyes narrowed and her wings twitched dangerously, the only betrayal her body made of her brewing anger. Sonya was always angry these days, ever since she'd been born a chimera actually, if Lela was to be believed when she had told the tales of how sweet Sonya had been as a child anyway, constantly nursing a hatred against the world, and she had already learned how to control it enough to only lash out at those she had to. "I asked you what animal they injected me with, you son of a bitch."

Kimbley smirked, taking a small measure of delight in knowing he'd antagonized his only visitor here in this hellhole. "Vampire bat. They chose to inject you with vampire bat DNA."

"You bastard." Sonya stalked away then, leaving him alone to his solitary confinement. Still, Kimbley couldn't contain a satisfied laugh, letting the sound escape his lips and follow her retreating form down the long prison hallways. Sonya was a monster, just as the other alchemists had predicted all those years ago, and it made him feel better to meet someone with just as little humanity remaining as his own. Sitting there in his cell, his hands being held in place by a large wooden shackle, he wondered if her sisters, Lela and Kayla, were coming along as well as she was, and his smile grew. Oh no, the Military was not quite done creating monstrous weapons, not by a long shot.

* * *

Sonya crept back into the Devil's Nest in the dead of night, heading up to Greed's room rather than her own. Striding quickly over to his sleeping form, she struck at him with all the speed of a cobra. Waking, he pushed her away, recognizing his attacker as Sonya in the light of the alchemical reaction as he healed himself. "What the hell, Son-"

"They injected me with fucking vampire bat DNA to fix my eyes. The intense thirst I've been experiencing over the past year is merely a side effect, one I can't deny any longer," she explained hastily. "I figured it'd be easier to hide my activities if I bit you since you could heal."

He chuckled at her logic. "You're a girl after my own heart, Sonya." He leaned back, pulling the chimera atop him and baring his neck patiently for her.

Her eyes flashed red again as her canines, upper and lower, lengthened. "Don't heal," she cautioned him, biting him at that super fast speed again. He grunted in agreement, tightening his arms around her shoulders as her tongue gently touched the open wound she'd made on his neck, lapping up the faux blood with a hungry kind of greed. Growling, impatient as always, Sonya began to suck, enjoying the taste of the homunculus's blood far too much for it to be good for her.

* * *

Ace: Wow, so before we finish out, I'd like to say that I still need one more positive manga review from someone other than EternalHypernova or Furorensu-Chan to go ahead and continue working on chapter 12. So, if you don't happen to be those two, then please HELP ME!

Lela: Okay, now before someone other than Ace forgets, we are still offering the balloons I had tied to my master as a reward since the ones on Ed all popped due to Sonya.

Envy: Why do I have to put up with all these balloons on me? Why can't I just kill the authoress?

Lela: *whispers into Envy's ear*

Envy: *pales* She can do that?

Lela: *nods*

Envy: HOLY SHIT!

Kayla: And now, for Bloody Bonez Alchemist XD's review! I'm gonna go become a State Alchemist now that I have permission!

Ed: THAT was why you dragged me to go get you all that paperwork?

Kayla: Uh huh!

Ed: ... You do know that as a chimera, you're illegal in Amestris. If you join the Military, you're duty-bound to turn yourself and your sisters in.

Kayla: ... Shit.

Ed: And by the way, what did Lela tell Envy to scare him so badly?

Kayla: *whispers into Ed's ear*

Ed: HOLY SHIT! *spasms* THAT'S JUST AN ABUSE OF POWER!

Ace: What'd she say?

Kayla: If he didn't shut up and put up with you, you could make him kiss Ed at Lab 5.

Ace: Okay...

Lela: And like it.

Ace: HOLY SHIT! *blinks* Where's Sonya?

Sonya: Heeheeheeheeheeheehee! *finds manuscript with burning torch* I WILL BE AVENGED!

Ace: You do know I wasn't gonna kill you anymore!

Sonya: *stares at ashes* Shit.

Greed: Remember to review with those recommendations, people! Oh, and drop a line on how her complete re-write of Kimbley's scene worked out, 'cuz she's really nervous on how she did with her complete winging-it.

Ace: *stares at computer hopefully* DO IT!


	10. 10: A Sickening of Hearts

Ace: Gah! No one told me what to do! *spasms*

Lela: Okay then. Review-answering time.

Envy: Furorensu-Chan, I hate to break it to you, but most of the people Mustang sleeps with... is me. AND GET OFF MY KITTEN, OTHERWISE I'LL *bleeped out due to sheer graphicness of threat*

Lela: And, by the way, Ace appriciates your applause for her good writing with Kimbley and also likes the fact you always review first because she uses your review to figure out when she's reached the end of the reviews in her e-mail box.

Sonya: EternalHypernova is next. YES, I AM A VAMPIRE! I THOUGHT WE ALREADY ESTABLISHED THIS!

Ed: Ah! More encouragement for Kayla! *runs*

Kayla: Yay! I gets more encouragement to go rape Ed! *tails spazzes* I'M GONNA GO FIND HIM!

Ace: What about the reviews, Kayla? *grabs by scruff of neck* Go chase Ed later. Oh, and thanks for liking the fact they do all the answering. I think they like answering these things too.

Sonya: No we don't!

Ace: SHUT UP, NO ONE ASKED YOU!

Lela: *sigh* Looks like they're at it again. Next is Witty Tennis Girl, a new reviewer! Ace apprciates the compliment, and she'd express it herself if she wasn't so busy with Sonya, heh heh heh...

Sonya: Now, for my bestest buddy, DarkVampirePrincess8, I know, it was a whole chapter of me, but she hasn't made another one of those yet. And, it's actually a pretty confusing part there on my whole bat-ness, something Ace is going to go into later, but I wasn't a vampire bat until AFTER I was caught.

Ed: STOP ENCOURAGING KAYLA! I DON'T WANT TO BE RAPED!

Kayla: *tail droops* So you don't like me? *runs off*

Ed: Oh, and Bloody Bonez Alchemist XD, I think you can have your name back since Kayla can't become an alchemist anymore.

Lela: And thanks for taking the time to review, all of you! Ace's day is always made when she sees those little reviews!

Ace: *sniff* It's true.

Envy: Which is why I must depress you with the disclaimer! Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

Lela: Why did you have to do that, Master? You know that makes her sadder. Now, please enjoy the chapter while I attempt to discipline my master.

* * *

10: A Sickening of Hearts

Like always, when Kayla woke up that morning, she felt sick. But since she knew the cause, she merely hid the feeling from Ed and Al, not wanting to worry them unnecessarily, or worse yet, be forced to see a doctor. She held back a shiver; since becoming a chimera, Kayla had a thing against all doctors and alchemists other than Edward and Alphonse.

She bounded out of her bed and into Edward's, delivering her usual morning lick to the nose before heading off to get herself breakfast. She didn't make it to the door before she gasped, her legs giving out and black going over her vision. She whimpered loudly, her body curling in on itself. Edward and Alphonse were down beside her in a matter of moments, concerned. A low, feral growl came from her throat as she forced herself upright, jaw tightly clenched, and stumbled to her room. She rummaged around in her coat pockets for an age before she pulled out a red collar. Gritting her teeth, a low whine slipping from her lips, she clumsily fastened it around her wrist, a relieved sigh escaping her as the buckle slid into place.

"What the hell just happened, Kayla?" Ed demanded.

Her ears twitched guiltily, but the chimera didn't look him in the eye. "Let's just say I'm very sick, there's nothing modern medicine can do about it, and I'm perfectly fine now."

"Kayla-" Al began, but she chucked her pillow at Ed's face and her shirt at Al's, effectively ending that conversation. It wasn't personal or anything, but Kayla was guarding a terrible secret from the Elric brothers, one about her past that she wasn't prepared to reveal to them any time in the near future, or rather, until it had become the only option left to her. She didn't want to drive them away in disgust when they found out the truth behind why the Animalias were all chimeras.

* * *

Sonya hadn't understood the true meaning of greed until after she'd fed on blood. The exquisite, overpowering taste of even the fake blood had driven reason from her mind, shackling her to her own animalistic, carnal urges. She licked her lips, already craving more even though she'd only fed last night. She couldn't contain a dry chuckle as she stared at the bloody colors of the sunrise. "It looks like those damn alchemists were right after all when they said my world would one day end up being painted in the ghastly colors of crimson blood."

* * *

When Lela awoke to feeling sick down to the very depths of her stomach and being, she knew, sadly, exactly what was wrong with her. Her claws slid out as she cursed the alchemists who had made her and her sisters like this. She slid from the warmth of the bed, careful not to awaken Envy, even though he too knew exactly what was wrong with her.

She gracefully made her way to the bathroom, stealthily closing the door behind her. Even though her master knew, none of the other homunculi knew the truth about her, and she intended to keep it that way. Padding to the counter, she noticed something strange out of the corner of her green eyes. The muscles under her fur were spasming. "Shit," she hissed, falling to the floor and colliding painfully with the cold tile. "Double shit."

She knew what was inevitably coming now that she couldn't stop it. The only thing left to do at this point was to keep the noise to a minimum as all hell would proceed to break loose. She didn't need a curious Lust or Gluttony finding her in her current state. Her long black hair fell around her, hiding her face as she panted.

To her surprise, the door behind her opened and closed. Then a gentle hand was pushing aside the curtain of her hair from around her shoulder, firmly injecting her with the alchemical serum she'd been so desperately trying to reach before. Her shaking slowed as the injection spread through her bloodstream, and she began to sag. An arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her onto a comfortable lap before she had the chance to hit the floor. "It came early this month, didn't it?"

She nodded weakly. "And faster too." She added in a small voice, "I don't want to become a monster, Envy. Really, I don't."

"It's okay," he murmured, petting her hair soothingly as she began to cry into his chest. "I won't let you lose yourself, my kitten. I promise."

* * *

Kayla's paws were sore from walking all day, but she had more immediate concerns than her aching paws. She could already feel the head coming on and knew tonight was going to be a horrible, long night. As soon as was possible to avoid suspicion, she snuck away.

The click of a lock sounded extremely ominous to Kayla, but it was the only way. If Edward or Alphonse chanced upon her when she was in one of her states, they'd freak at best and kill her or turn her over to the Military at worst. She shivered delicately, padding her way to the bed in the corner. She curled up in the precise center of the bed, her head resting on her paws and her tail wrapping around her body to her paws. Her yellow eyes slowly slid shut as she carefully undid the mental grip she kept so tightly around her body. She pictured her mental bonds as chains and shackles encircling her entire body, restraining her in every way possible.

Then she pictured the chains sliding away from her into the vague mist, concerns no longer. It was a long, laborious, exhausting process, but one that she had long since grown used to. She could feel her body physically shifting, bones cracking, as it adjusted to the sudden lack of a burden. Slowly, with a precision born of grace and majesty, her pale yet fierce yellow eyes slid open, her fur bleached whiter than usual form the moonlight falling in from the window, to meet her new wolf face with Edward Elric's startled one.

* * *

Ace: Oh noes! Ed found out that Kayla can transform into a wolf! Whats will happen now?

Sonya: Why are you screaming up at the sky, you already know what's gonna happen!

Ace: Oh yeah.

Lela: -AND THAT'S WHY YOU DON'T CALL EDWARD SHORT-

Ace: Wow, she's really getting into it, isn't she?

Sonya: You should've seen her with the alchemists. This ain't nothing compared to that.

Ace: Any idea why that is?

Envy: Because she loves me.

Lela: GAH! *falls over*

Kayla: YAY! NAPTIME! *falls over*

Ace: Um, wasn't she supposed to be freaking out?

Ed: Apparently not.

Kayla: YOU NAP TOO! *tackles Ed*

Sonya: Reviewers get you, um, magic lollipops, I guess?

Greed: I have a better idea. May I?

Ace: I don't see why not.

Greed: Reviewers get a can of whipped cream and the character of thier choice.

Ace: *faints in shock*

Sonya: Well then. That beats what I had by a long shot.

Greed: Looks like we're in charge of reading the reviews for the next while.

Sonya: Yeah... Want to go delete all the reviews she gets while she's out?

Greed: Oh, you bet. *turns to computer with evil expression on face and pointy teeth* AND NOW WE WAIT!

Sonya: Mwahahahahahahahahahaha!


	11. 11: Running Away From Fate

Sonya: SHIT, WHERE'S THE DELETE BUTTON?

Greed: I DON'T KNOW!

Ace: *randomly sits up* HEY, LOOK, REVIEWS!

Kayla: Ooooooooohhhhhhhhhh! Hey, Ed, look, EternalHypernova says I need to rape you!

Ed: WHAT? *steals review* GAH! Uh... I don't really know what to say to the whole 'love' thing, especially with how she's turning the now-worked-upon chapter 12.

Ace: Yeah! Since no one helped me, I decided it was time for random stupidity!

Lela: And yes, we are all keeping secrets, but I think mine's probably the worst, which we get into right after chapter 12.

Greed: *pales upon reading review* Maybe I shouldn't have made the offer...

Sonya: Hey, looks like we scared Witty Tennis Girl off... Mission accomplished! *high-fives Greed and Envy*

Envy: Right, time to top that! Furorensu-Chan, I regret to inform you that I am not a woman or gay. I just like going into completely unnessicary planning and foreplay before I scar people for life. And I can totally say stuff like that because I am a jackass.

Ace: Ain't that the truth.

Greed: And maybe I should've gotten Mustang's approval before I made the offer... OH WELL, NOT LIKE I CARE!

Kayla: Hey, look, it's DarkVampirePrincess8! And she thinks its coolio how I can be a wolf!

Ed: Well, you do look pretty cute like that...

Envy: I DENY WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT WITH THE SWEETHEART CRAP! I WAS ONLY DOING IT FOR MY OWN BENEFIT!

Lela: Uh huh! My master beats me! He's not sweet (yet)!

Sonya: And sadly, as you can see, we could not find the delete button to delete all these reviews for Ace.

Kayla: HEY ED! SHE SAYS I CAN RAPE YOU TOO!

Ed: I DENY EVERYTHING! *runs away*

Kayla: Oh yeah, Sonya, about that delete button...

Sonya: Yeah? *angry eyes*

Kayla: I kinda ate it.

Sonya: WHAT THE-! COME HERE, YOU!

Kayla: *runs behind Ed* Don't let her hurt me!

Ace: SONYA, DISCLAIMER, NOW!

Sonya: Fine. Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist. Now, please enjoy this chapter whilst I murder my sister.

* * *

11: Running Away From Fate

Sonya normally did not think of herself as evil. She did not normally think being a chimera was a curse. Of course, all those restrictions flew right out the window when she saw the dried fake blood, Greed's blood, on her lips. "Lela was right all along," she murmured, her tongue sneaking out to clean herself off, "Project Avenging Angel _was_ a failure after all."

* * *

Kayla panicked. She couldn't help it. Edward seeing her like that, when she was no more than an over-glorified, alchemized beast, was something she'd rather die than let happen. So she darted away before he could catch her, running away before he could even gather himself up enough to react.

She did, however, come back later, when he was asleep. Tail drooping, eyes averted in shame and sadness, she crept into his room and gently ran a paw over his face, pushing his golden hair back. _Sorry Edward_, she thought guiltily, _but I can't let you be another casualty of Project Ark Angel._ Gently, with all the care she could muster, she pulled the blanket up around his sleeping body with her teeth and gazed at him again for a long moment before she left once more, unwilling for Al to find out the truth about her as well.

* * *

For some reason, Lela was thinking more often about her various sins. Actually, she had only one word to sum up all of them, and that word was deceit. She wasn't a compulsive liar or anything, but she was guilty of a lot of lies to people who deserved the truth. Kayla. Sonya. Government officials. Homunculi. Homunculi disguised as government officials. All people she'd lied to. She'd even lied to her master, Envy, though not nearly as often as she could've or should've.

It all came down to Equivelent Exchange. Ha! Equivalence! The notion that any of the "trades" she'd made in her lifetime were made in equal exchange was enough to make her want to laugh. Now, did she believe you had to give something to get something? Yes, she did, but the return was always less than what she'd given and never necessarily what she'd wanted or made the original bargain for. The Law of Equivelent Exchange wasn't exactly a law in Lela's eyes, per se, but more of a healthy guideline to follow. After all, why else would she have knowingly completed Project Ark Angel and enabled Project Avenging Angel?

* * *

Kayla ran and ran and didn't stop running until she had reached her safe haven deep inside Central. She nosed open the large metal door to reveal a small room made mostly of metal. There was a large pillow dog-bed serving as the main effect other than two cruel dog bowls with some rusty old water and a moldy scrap of food them amid the liberal coating of dust and a thread-bare teddy bear missing an arm lying haphazardly on the floor as though it had fallen from where it had been set down years ago. In fact, that was the case; Kayla had not been here in four long years.

She padded over to the pillow, grabbing the bear gently between her teeth so as not to destroy it further as she went and not noticing when her tail brushed up against one of the bowls, revealing the thin beginnings of a _Ka_ scratched onto the metal. She plopped down heavily on the pillow, evicting thousands of dust particles from their homes and into the air around her before she sneezed violently. Eyes watering slightly, she pressed her nose to the scrap of red fabric tied around her front right ankle and inhaled its comforting scent. Her eyes slid shut in slight contentment.

A metallic clamor, however, caused those yellow orbs to jolt open, and she growled low in her throat. Her paws shifted underneath her, readying her to pounce upon… two unfamiliar suits of armor, soul-bound, who were _not_ Al. "Are you an Ark Angel?" the taller one asked, holding back the fatter one, who was screaming something about wanting to cut her up. She nodded though, keeping her eyes firmly on the cutting-up suit of armor. She had heard enough of the various other experiments that had been performed here that she had a healthy respect for what could end up being done to her by that suit of armor if she let her guard down too much. "I am Number 48, the Slicer, and this is Number 66, Barry the Chopper. We were assigned to guard this place after it was abandoned, but I don't think you're any threat to us." He paused for a moment, studying her. "You wouldn't happen to be Kayla Animalia, now would you?" he asked unexpectedly.

Lela had not brought her up to lie, even in wolf form. She nodded, gesturing towards the bowls with her muzzle. The armor didn't spare them a passing glance, instead approaching her. "Oh good. I was told that if the wolf girl, Kayla Animalia, ever returned to this place, I was to give her one final injection she missed." Her eyes widened, and she backed up slightly before he grabbed her tightly, holding her still. She yelped loudly as the needle punctured her skin, struggling as the plunger went flush with the syringe. As her limbs began moving more sluggishly, as if through water or syrup rather than air, she slumped to ground on the pillow, blacking out with her nose against the red fabric, inhaling its scent, the scent of Edward Elric.

"Come on, Lela. We're leaving."

She looked up at her master, her collar jangling. "Where are we going?" she asked quietly, getting up and brushing off her skort. The girl shrunk under his gaze, her tail and ears pressing close to her. "Unless, of course, it's something I don't need to know," she murmured submissively, lowering her eyes.

A pair of hands stroked her face, hair, ears, and neck, surprising her. Her head came up to see Envy's triumphant and ever-present smirk, shocking herself when a satisfied purr escaped her lips. A shudder coarsed through her fur, longing for his touch. Abruptly, he jerked on her collar, his way of telling her to hurry up so that they could leave, and obedient to the letter, she padded along behind him, green eyes watching him all the while.

* * *

Ace: No, Sonya, you may not attempt to murder Kayla ever again.

Sonya: What are you gonna do if I do try again?

Ace: I'll take Greed away.

Sonya: NOT MY BLOOD SOURCE! *hugs Greed*

Ace: Kayla, what are you doing now?

Kayla: Um, I kinda decided to jump ahead of your story and go rape Ed now.

Ace: Well, okay then!

Ed: What are you doing, Ace? *grabs paper, reads line, and spasms on floor*

Envy: Ooooh, what's got the pipsqueak all worked up? *grabs paper, reads handful of lines, and follows Ed's example on the floor*

Kayla: HEY, THAT LOOKS LIKE FUN! *simply follows thier example*

Lela: What's all that about?

Sonya: Oh, she's already planning a sequel.

Greed: WHA? ALREADY?

Sonya: Yep. It's chock full of stupidity. AND IT'S GONNA HAVE ROY MUSTANG!

Lela: *blink* Wasn't he the guy Envy's trying to scar for life?

Greed: Yeah.

Ace: Heeheeheeheeheeheehee, there's a meow in here!

Sonya: Ladies and gentlemen, Ace's brain has left the building.

Greed: Least she's working again.

Lela: Let's offer the same reward as last time, okay?

Greed: But we're out of whipped cream! All I gots is this thing of Cheez-whiz!

Sonya: MY CHEESE! *snatches can and sprays into mouth*

Greed: DON'T STEAL FROM GREED! *snatches can back*

Ace: Ooooooh, I wants Cheez-whiz too! *snatches can*

Lela: And so the battle of the Cheez-whiz can commenesed...

* * *

Later...

Sonya: ACE, YOU MORON, YOU GOOFED ON THIS THING!

Ace: I did?

Lela: *points out goof*

Kayla: Don't worry, we just fixed it for you!

Lela: We apologize to those of you who thought she updated, though we will admit she will update tomorrow and let you see what she's decided to do with herself after all that moaning.

Sonya: And once again, I will not be in the next chapter because of technical difficulties, so my next official appearance is in two chapters.

Kayla: Now, innocent citizens, you are welcome to get back to your lives!

Lela: Why not put up the new chapter now, Ace?

Ace: Because I haven't made the next one yet...

*group glare at Ace*

Ace: Fine. I'll go do it. *stomps off*


	12. 12: Confrontations at Lab 5

Ace: I HATE YOU, AWESOME PROCESSED CHEESE BY-PRODUCT INSIDE A CAN!

Greed: WHAT SHE SAID!

Sonya: DITTO!

Lela: What happened?

Ace: After you threatened me, the Cheez-Whiz went over the cliff there and was caught by a random guy screaming about how much he loved boobs!

Kayla: Will reviews make you feel better?

Ace: Yes.

Envy: Furorensu-Chan, I will say that I can totally scar Mustang for life far worse than you can, mainly because I've had centuries of practice, but still, he will be scarred! If not from me, it will be by Ed in the sequel.

Ed: SHUT UP, I STILL DON'T THINK SHE NEEDS ONE!

Envy: But Ed, you'd look so cute *bleeped out because of extreme spoilers*

Greed: AND YOU'RE KEEPING MUSTANG IN YOUR CLOSET! WITH CHEEZ-WHIZ!

Ace: IT'S NOT LIKE YOU GUYS TAKING UP SEMI-PERMANENT RESIDENCE IN MY ATTIC IS ANY BETTER, AND GIVE US CHEEZ-WHIZ! *starts foaming around mouth*

Envy: Dammit, Witty Tennis Girl is back!

Sonya: AND SHE HAS CHEEZ-WHIZ! GIVE US THE CHEEZ-WHIZ, WHOEVER YOU ARE! *also starts foaming at mouth*

Greed: CHEEZ-WHIZ, CHEEZ-WHIZ, CHEEZ-WHIZ! *more foam*

Lela: *sigh* Thanks for your compliment, it is much appriciated.

Kayla: YAY! IT'S MY BESTEST BUDDY, Bloody Bonez Alchemist XD! Hey, it was sad, but not worth screaming at her for! And, as you can see, we bullied her into updating for you! *sees Ace, Sonya, and Greed* HEY, I WANT TO GET RABIES TOO! *runs towards them*

Ed: *grabs by scruff of neck* No, you don't. Now do the disclaimer!

Kayla: Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist. Enjoy this chapter of awesomeness! *looks at Ed out of corner of eye and jumps on him, licking face*

* * *

12: Confrontations at Lab 5

Kayla awoke completely disoriented, blinking confusedly. What was she doing here in this place of nightmares and in her wolf form no less? Her head throbbed, and she whined pitifully. It felt as though someone had pushed her reset button, but she didn't know who. Perhaps the person whose scent clung to the red cloth tied to her ankle? She growled quietly, somehow knowing he wasn't responsible. Filing that conundrum away for later, she pushed herself to her paws and began scouting out the abandoned laboratory.

When she heard a loud crashing and banging coming from the old alchemy chamber, she ran there to see pure chaos before her.

* * *

Lela didn't know or care why they were at Lab 5. She just stuck close to her master, her tail and ears clinging to her body, and tried to push back the fear pulsing through her. It was illogical for her to be afraid of alchemists, not when she'd finished her dosage and Envy was a creature of alchemy, making it rather pointless to experiment on him. Still, she couldn't deny the stab of fear when she saw what they'd come here to see. Her eyes went impossibly wide, her claws slid out, and her entire body arched for flight. "Damn it, Envy," she moaned quietly, tail thrashing as she looked around desperately for an escape. He raised an eyebrow at her, merely confused by her behavior. "He's an _alchemist_."

* * *

Kayla only arrived to see the very end of the Slicer's fight with the intruder, a pretty blond boy, but she felt a strong urge to dash in and lick the boy's face and hands and pretty much whatever other parts of him she could reach. She shook her head, pawing at her muzzle in punishment. What was she thinking, licking a complete stranger? And yet, she couldn't deny his familiarity or the way her body was reacting to the mere sight of him. She wanted him, and she didn't know why because of that stupid migraine.

Curious, she crept closer as two figures emerged from the shadows, an androgynous boy, or she thought it was a boy anyway, and a woman with absolutely no modesty. She froze, eyes not seeing the sword the boy had put through the blood seals because she'd picked up a scent, a scent she knew and knew well. It was the scent of her master, the one that clung to the fabric on her wrist, and it belonged to the blond boy lying pathetically against the wall. How the crud did she know him?

Her mental hamster-wheeling came to a screeching half, however, when she saw the other boy advance towards her master. Kayla didn't think; she just acted. While her mind screamed at her to do something, her body acted, her leg muscles uncoiling to send her hurtling towards the threat. "_Edward_!"

"_No_!"

* * *

Lela hid in the shadows, too afraid to do any more than watch her master. He made short work of the guard, a pair of brothers soul-bound to a suit of armor, and began to advance on the alchemist. Suddenly, her attention focused on a pair of pale yellow lamp-like eyes glowing from the darkness across the room and splotches of silver fur reflecting what little light found its way down. A thrill spread through her body when she realized what she was looking at. A magnificent silver wolf. An Ark Angel subject who had benefited from Lela's own experimentation.

But it couldn't be Kayla. Of the two Animalia sisters who'd been part of Project Ark Angel, Lela was the only one to complete the project, making the cat girl the only one who was a true Ark Angel of the pair. Besides, Kayla knew better than to show ever a passing interest in an _alchemist_. Lela shook herself from her dilemma to once again dutifully watch the movements of her master, only to be once more distracted, this time by the flash of teeth. The wolf had sprung at her master, the cry of "_Edward_!" on its lips, a snarling visage on its face.

Lela didn't think, merely acted. Her body threw off the effects of the serum in her blood as she made a desperate leap. "_No_!"

* * *

The next thing Kayla knew, she was tumbling through the air and against the hard concrete floor. She recoiled quickly, on her feet in an impossibly swift movement for any save an Ark Angel, and locked eyes with her opponent, a growling specimen of black panther with bright green eyes and a black leather cat collar. She snarled in response, the need to protect this Edward overriding her survival and pacifist instincts, and launched herself at the cat.

* * *

Lela's claws lashed out as often as they could as she fought with the wolf, but she could not deny that the wolf possessed a far more dangerous killing instinct and found herself making her wounds more often using her slightly-clubbed tail rather than her razor-sharp claws. The wolf, however, seemed perfectly content to bite at its adversary with its teeth. It sank its fangs into Lela's side, causing her to let out a yelp and lash out with her claws at its face, which backhanded it into the wall beside the nearly-unconscious alchemist, who pet it soothingly. Then everything went wrong.

* * *

Kayla's entire head hurt from the blows she'd taken, even as her body ached from her close encounter with the solid wall. Slowly, ignoring the gentle pulling on her fur, she pushed herself unsteadily to her feet, only to stare into the soft liquid gold of the alchemist's eyes. For one long moment, she was transfixed by them, but then she heard the sounds of the building crumbling around her. Frightened, she pushed herself away and ran, the sound of her paws slapping against the floor being the only thing she focused her ears on and blatantly ignoring the anguish in the alchemist's voice as he called her name, the word echoing loudly and shamefully against the walls. "Kayla!"

* * *

"Kayla!" _No_, Lela thought desperately, _That can't be Kayla. It couldn't be. That's impossible_. But her heart knew there was truth lurking inside the alchemist's words. That had been Kayla. Lela had fought her own sister, dear sweet Kayla, simply to protect the person, the bastard, who had captured her from something he'd certainly deserved and most likely had earned. Unable to cope with the unexpected shock, her legs gave out underneath her, and she fainted, her mind swirling around the fact she'd found Kayla again only to turn her into a monster.

* * *

Ed: RAPE, RAPE!

Envy: Oh, get over it, you shrimp.

Ed: WHO YOU CALLING A- *cut off by Kayla nuzzling at neck*

Lela: Okay, I'm done here.

Envy: You're the only sane one, you know. Anything you leave us here to do can and will be used against you in a court of law.

Lela: Damn. Let's offer, um, I'm actually starting to run out of ideas now.

Envy: *whisper whisper*

Lela: Fine. Reviewers may insult a character of thier choice.

*Ace, Sonya, and Greed run by with a can of whipped cream and a new can of Cheez-Whiz, laughing crazily and leaving behind a burning store in thier wake*

Envy: Hey, that looks fun! I'm gonna go join the insane group! *runs off*

Lela: And why again do I put up with these lunatics?

Ace, Envy, Sonya, and Greed: *distant* CHEEZ-WHIZ!


	13. 13: The Unholiness of Sainthood

Ace: Wah! I'm getting overwhelmed!

Envy: Hey look, a review from Furorensu-Chan! OH YEAH, WELL I-

Lela: Yes yes, you can both scar Mustang, let's just call it a day then.

Greed: Wow. Okay then...

Ed: WHO'RE YOU CALLING A SOMETHING SMALL ENOUGH TO BE CRUSHED UNDER THAT SKIRT-CHASER'S BOOTS AND SCRAPED OFF ON THE SIDEWALK?

Kayla: Yeah, I don't like Shou Tucker either, EternalHypernova. He gives me the creeps. And no, Ark Angels are explored far more throughly in the next three chapters, along with Project Avenging Angel.

Ace: NO WHIPPED CREAM FOR YOU! IT'S FOR FAKING RABIES ONLY! And, um, about the update, I was only fixing a goof I randomly noticed I'd made and, uh, *points finger at girls* BLAME THEM!

Envy: Um, DarkVampirePrincess8, OF COURSE I AM BIPOLAR! IT'S A REQUIREMENT FOR SOMEONE OF MY ABILITIES!

Lela: Don't worry, you were right when you called him a sweetheart.

Envy: QUIET YOU!

Kayla: And as for Lela and I not knowing each other, that was because I wasn't supposed to be able to change into a wolf yet, and I didn't know Lela could transform into a panther either, plus I always thought she had more dignity than to wear a cat collar around her neck with the words _Envy's kitten_ written on it...

Sonya: You can have some of our Cheez-Whiz we stole from the store, but I wasn't in there because I never went to Lab Five, and I kinda had a continuation with the last scene I made, so... no mention there for me, sadly. But I'm in this chapter, so rejoice!

Kayla: I know. I hated getting beat up like that and not remembering a lot of crap and leaving Ed there to die. *sniffle*

Sonya: And we ALL bullied Ace into updating, not just her.

Lela: I mean seriously, where do they get all those ideas?

Ace: Ed, since you abused the caps lock the most today, you get to make the disclaimer.

Ed: But I only did it once! Envy did it three times!

Ace: You used more words, so do it before I punish you.

Greed: Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist. Enjoy!

Ed: Eheheheheheheh, I'm screwed now, aren't I?

Ace: Oh, most definitely.

* * *

13: The Unholiness of Sainthood

Edward wasn't out for long. He awoke angry, pissed as hell, covered in injuries and thus bandages, and in the hospital. Not even the joint efforts of Roy Mustang, Riza Hawkeye, Major Armstrong, Armstrong's sparkles, and the doctor could prevent him from trying to find Kayla, and it wasn't from lack of trying on their part. Ed was just far too determined to hunt down the wolf chimera girl for anyone to stop him, not when he knew she was here in Central. The last time he'd looked her in the eyes, he'd found fear, pain, confusion, and a deep sorrow. He simply _had_ to find her, which was the reason why he was currently roaming the streets despite the fact he had broken automail, couldn't perform the slightest bit of alchemy, had abandoned his Military guards, and was basically a sitting duck for Scar. If he could find Kayla though, it would all be worth it.

* * *

"What's Project Avenging Angel?"

Sonya froze, surprised by the suddenness of the other voice. It wasn't because the voice was unfamiliar, it wasn't that in the slightest, but because she hadn't been expecting Greed to be there, in her private room. She sighed, beckoning him closer as she pulled her long, clean, chestnut hair over her shoulder. "Do you see that?" she asked calmly.

He nodded, reaching out a finger towards the back of her neck. "How could I not?" he whispered quietly, touching the very center of the tattoo, black, brown, and red, of a bow-like sword on the smooth, sensitive skin there.

"That's part of what the original alchemists did to me all those years ago."

He was mystified as to what she was hinting at. "What are you saying, Sonya?"

"I'm no more human than you are, Greed. When I was 'born', they said I would be both a valuable gift to humankind and a monster whose world was tainted red with blood." She swallowed hard, unsure whether she was choking back tears or bile now. "I sure as hell proved them wrong when I ran away with my sisters."

"I didn't know you _had_ siblings."

"Technically, they're not really related to me anymore, not since I changed species. Not since I became alchemy's version of an avenging angel."

* * *

Lela had never regretted anything as much as she did creating Kayla five years ago. For her to see her childish younger sister's face twisted in hatred and anger, it made her feel brand new guilt to season the old in her wounds. She stirred, pushing herself off the bed underneath her and out of the arms that had tried to catch her. Her claws slid out of their sheaths, and she put them to her neck slowly and deliberately. "Lela," a familiar voice gasped, shocked, "What are you _doing_?"

Her green eyes focused on her master, sorrow brimming to the very edge of them. "I don't want this to go on anymore, Envy. I started this, so it's only fair for me to pay for my crimes."

"Lela, just because you're the eldest sister doesn't mean it's all your fault!"

"Yes it is!" she cried, her eyes boring into his. "It is all my fault!"

"Kitten-"

"Don't you see? _I_ was the one who betrayed us to the alchemists! _I_ was the one who created the formulas to turn my younger sisters and myself into the Military's weapons, their tamed monsters! _I_ was the one who offered myself as the first test subject!" Her tears fell thick and fast, splattering all over her fur as she lowered her head. "I was the catalyst for Project Ark Angel and Project Avenging Angel."

* * *

Edward had been searching for hours, but he had yet to find hide or hair of Kayla. If he didn't find her soon, he'd be forced to abandon his search yet again and hope to find her when he looked again tomorrow. His metal hand fisted around a small scrap of dark blue fabric she'd given to him about a year ago, tied around a smooth riverstone she'd liked. It was basically her way of showing her affection towards him in a physical reminder, but Ed couldn't deny it brought him some slight measure of comfort to hold something she'd given to him as a gift. "Oh Kayla," he murmured quietly, "Please come back. I'm not afraid _of_ you, I'm afraid _for_ you."

* * *

On the roof, a pair of fierce yellow eyes widened in shock. She could not remember much after her older sister Lela had broken them all out of the Fifth Laboratory, three years ago, merely flashes of things and the boy's name, Edward. She knew he had seen her in both of her forms and knew she could look like, be, a wolf if she chose to, so why was he not afraid of her? He was an alchemist; not her creator, but an alchemist all the same. She was an Ark Angel, a monstrous creature of alchemy. Why did he want her back? Unconsciously, her body leaned towards him, longing for his touch.

Something must've giver her away because he looked up at her pleadingly. "Kayla," he whispered softly, "come back." Her ears twitched, and she took an uncertain step towards the edge of the roof in his direction. "Don't leave again, Kayla. Please. I never meant to hurt you in any way." She took another step closer, a low whine in the back of her throat. She closed her eyes for a long moment, fighting back against the urge to jump down and kiss him hard.

A pair of gentle hands, one warm flesh and the other cold steel, caressed her head, paying special attention to her ears in just the way she liked. Her eyes opened slowly to meet his, unable to find the resistance against the young alchemist any longer, not now when she had recalled some of the times they'd spent together. But she couldn't deny that she had to warn him of exactly what she was. "Edward, I can't let you stay in the dark any longer, not when I'm a part of Project Ark Angel. I was created to become a monster, so it's only right for me to warn you of what you're getting into."

* * *

"Sonya, angels aren't real."

"True angels aren't, but I'm not a true angel. I was not created by a god."

Greed sighed. "I'm not buying it, Sonya."

"Fine then. I guess I'll have to spill the beans to get you to see the truth."

* * *

"I don't understand, little kitten."

"Fine," Lela snarled, "I'll _make_ you understand then."

* * *

Ace: *walks into room, dragging Envy by hair*

Ed: WHAT'S HE DOING HERE?

Ace: He's part of your punishment.

Ed: WHA- *is cut off as Ace shoves Envy on top of Ed, making sure they lip-lock* GROSS, GROSS, GROSS, GROSS, GROSS, I JUST KISSED A PALM TREE!

Envy: GROSS, GROSS, GROSS, GROSS, GROSS, I JUST KISSED THE PIPSQUEAK HUMAN ALCHEMIST! *runs away for therapy with Lela*

Lela: Envy, you do know that was punishment for antagonizing the reviewers.

Envy: Never. Again. *whimper*

Lela: Come here. *hugs Envy*

Ed: I WILL NEVER BE CLEAN, I WILL NEVER BE CLEAN!

Kayla: Since he isn't gonna be clean... *tackles Ed and begins kissing him*

Ace: HA HA, NOW I'M FREE TO CONTINUE MY CRIME SPREE! *runs off to go steal more things from grocery stores with Sonya, Greed, and her many rabid weasel minions*

Sonya: REVIEWERS GET RABID WEASEL MINIONS TOO!

Greed: I WANTS TO STEAL MORE STUFF!

Sonya: What kind of stuff?

Greed: I'M GREED! I WANT MONEY! I WANT SEX! I WANT LAND, FAME!

Ace: *face-palm*

Sonya: I'M IN!

Ace: Oh, and fair warning, I may have to start slowing down on the updates. I'm just simply having a hard time keeping up now! OKAY, GUYS, THIS TIME WE'RE HITTING WAL-MART!

*Note: Ace5980 does not own Wal-mart, Cheez-whiz, or any of the other crap she mentions in here other than Sonya, Kayla, and Lela. Now time for shameless advertising! If you like this story, please visit Ace's newest story, Winds of Change! It has Envy and Ed and Mustang and Lust and Gluttony and insanity in it! However, it does not have a meow.


	14. 14: Flashbacks of a Traitor

Ace: WAH, I MEANT TO UPDATE YESTURDAY, BUT I GOT DISTRACTED BY WRITING UP SONYA'S FLASHBACK AND FORGOT!

Sonya: It's okay Ace.

Lela: We still love you.

Kayla: Sorta. Hey look, EternalHypernova reviewed! AND SHE RE-ENCOURAGED ME TO RAPE ED!

Ed: GAH!

Sonya: Sure, why not let you fake rabies, you can come with us to trash the next Wal-mart.

Ace: AND THE RABID WEASEL MINIONS WILL HELP ME HELP YOU DO ALL THAT STUFF, BECAUSE I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE CALL MANGA CRAPPY FOURTH-GRADE COMIC BOOKS!

Greed: Once again, Ace's brain has left the building.

Ace: Nah, I just probably suffer from a serious mental disorder like EternalHypernova!

Greed: Okay then...

Lela: You don't need to sit in a corner, Furorensu-Chan just stop the dumb arguement.

Envy: But I like annoying people. *pout*

Lela: Which is why you're sitting with me in the corner of shame.

Kayla: RIGHT, THAT'S IT, NO ONE CALLS MY MATE SHORT!

Envy: YEAH, NO ONE'S ALLOWED TO DO THAT TO CHIBI-SAN BUT ME!

Ed: What the-? That idiot has a Mini-skirt Army?

Kayla: Yeah. They solicited me once.

Ed: *spasms at thought of Kayla in a mini-skirt*

Envy: Oh, and Ace is thinking about re-writing Winds of Change to better reflect the plot, since she wrote the first two chapters, and then had a sudden idea change to redo the entire plot. She tried to fix it, but even she doesn't think she did all too well...

Ace: Yeah, I'll fix it after I put up another chapter, then I'll go on hiatus for a while, not for another week though, and rewrite Winds and update Chimeras like a mad woman.

Lela: We ARE all monsters, Bloody Bonez Alchemist XD. If you go through the flashbacks, it's kinda hard not to reach that conclusion. Especially after Sonya's...

Kayla: And besides, the closest thing we've ever had to friends is Greed and Dorochet for Sonya, Envy for Lela, and Ed and Al for me.

Sonya: I know, DarkVampirePrincess8, I was back for one entire chapter! But now, you get to find out more about the projects from Lela as I wait another chapter for my own magical flashback of wonder.

Greed: WITH MORE SIDE-MENTIONS!

Ace: And even more mystery and dangling plot lines to be filled in at a later date!

Envy: You're evil, you know that?

Ace: Yeah, pretty much.

Ed: SAVE ME FROM THE CRAZY WOLF-GIRL!

Ace: Only if you do the disclaimer.

Ed: FINE! Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

Ace: *picks up Ed and places him into Envy's lap* ENJOY!

* * *

14: Flashbacks of a Traitor

(7 years prior)

Lela had taken care of both childish Kayla and blind Sonya for two years, ever since their dad had committed suicide and slit his throat. Sonya was always subdued, clinging to Kayla in a desperate attempt to compensate for her lack of vision. Kayla was normally whining about the fact she had no friends because they were on the run from their parent's superiors, after the notes Lela had taken from her father's office before she'd picked up Sony6a, grabbed Kayla's hand with her own, left the house she'd only reluctantly called home, and never looked back since. She regretted that Kayla and Sonya weren't having a proper childhood, the childhood they deserved, but since Lela had given up her own childhood at the tender age of six, she couldn't really relate. The year after that, her mother had been shot by an intruder who was never found or caught. Then her father had done what he'd done and ended Lela's nightmarish childhood, leaving her to raise her younger siblings and protect his work.

The nine-year-old looked at her charges sleeping nestled against each other in the tent and smiled sadly. They'd need to move soon if they were to avoid the alchemists hunting them, even though Lela knew part of what those bastards were looking for. Lela had flipped through the alchemy notes she'd taken and, surprising, had understood them throughly well for someone who could not perform alchemy and hadn't even seen a full decade of life yet. In fact, she'd even taken a pencil to the formulas, doing all her math in the dirt with a stick in an innumerable amount of different locations around the country. Making sure the girls were sound asleep, she crept outside, shuttering the small lantern they had with her hand. Setting it down on a nice large patch of dirt and fetching a nice twig, Lela pushed up the sleeve of her coat, revealing a long complicated formula stenciled on her forearm in charcoal. Nodding to herself, she copied the series of numbers and letters at the farthest spot from the lantern where she could still read her scratch marks in the flickering light it offered. This was the very last of her father's work she had to check, and she carefully fixed a few minor miscalculations she'd already spotted in her previous forays.

Lela Animalia was an alchemical genius, a prodigy. She could not perform the elusive art, but she had a talent for working its formulas half on instinct alone and half on the sketchy info she knew of math and science from what little schooling she'd had and the notes she'd decoded. She had just as much potential as a certain blond boy, an Edward Elric. However, just like Ed, Lela's subject matter was, although she didn't know it, human transmutation and thus taboo. But she thought alchemy was alchemy, not formulas, and formulas were always the same on both sides of the equals sign at the end of the day. How could she have known that formulas and alchemy could be the same thing and the opinion she had of formulas was basically the Law of Equivalent Exchange?

Straightening, ignoring the dirt on her pale knees and legs, Lela looked up at the sky, deciding she had enough time to begin her own work from what she'd learned from her father's. Absently correcting a few figures on her arm to make her original formula right, she then raked up the bottom of her shirt, revealing minuscule lines of text snaking from just above her bellybutton to about halfway up her ribcage. She swept away her remaining work with her sleeve, once again ignoring the mud and dirt attaching itself to her clothes. She lines up three columns, separating each formula into one on either of the far sides, leaving the middle bare for her work. Slowly but surely, she compiled the formulas in the left column into fewer and fewer sets, absently noticing the figures got more and more unstable with each combination. Then, she did the same for the right, noticing there were two ending formulas instead of one, all of which she copied down around her wrist before scratching out all of her work. She had upheld her part of the bargain she had made with Kimbley. Now it was time for him to heal her sister, after she'd got them all captured and begun experimentation, of course.

* * *

(2 years later, still 5 years from present)

"The formula isn't safe! Dammit, Arthur, you can't give it to Kayla!" Lela yelled, grabbing at a man by his arm and barely keeping her temper in check.

He smirked at her. "It didn't hurt you, now did it, Lela-cat?" he said bluntly, pushing past her. Lela growled at the closed office door, her new cat ears lying flat against her head as her tail flicked angrily by her side. Arthur was a fairly decent alchemist, good at what he did, but he simply didn't possess the same prowess Lela did. Picking up a marker in her paw and finding the task rather more difficult than she'd originally though, she sat down at the absent alchemist's desk to do what she did best. She quickly ran through the formulas they'd given her on Sonya and compared the finished product to that which she'd gathered from information they'd let slip or she'd stolen. What she found was enough to anger the chimera girl beyond reason.

The alchemists had lied to her about what they were doing to Sonya. They weren't fixing her sight like they'd promised. They weren't changing her into the dangerously advanced chimeras like Kayla and herself, but Sonya sure as hell wasn't a normal human anymore. She was the product their father had been striving for before his untimely death. Sonya had been turned into a being that could only be classified as an avenging angel, and it had been done by the very formulas Lela herself had perfected.

Lela felt sick, sick to her core. Her old hobby had turned her and her sisters from humans to mere experiments. I_ have to get rid of this. I have to get rid of it all_, she thought, her body changing into the supple one of a sleek black panther. Her claws shot out as she prepared to do the unthinkable. _I have to free Kayla and Sonya, and we'll run away, far away, where no alchemist bastard could ever find us no matter how hard they look. We'll blend in with society, make sure we never end up in this place again, and we'll never look back_. Her green eyes roved the office one more time before settling on the papers placed underneath a photo of Arthur. _But, before we go, I need to make sure my work isn't going to be abuse, by these alchemists or anyone else_. She lit the room on fire and stalked off, ears twitching as the smoke hid her from view so that no one could see her coming.

* * *

Ace: REVIEWS EQUAL RABID WOLVERINE PITS!

Lela: Um, why aren't you guys all crazy and stuff?

Sonya: 'Cuz Wal-mart didn't have any cheez-whiz or whipped cream.

Greed: Some guy who loves boobs stole them all first.

Envy: CURSE YOU, BOOB GUY!

Ace: Now we're off to the Wal-mart down the street. *all run off*

Lela: *trailing behind* Sometimes I wonder exactly what goes on inside thier heads...

*Ed and Kayla come in after everyone leaves*

Ed: What'd we miss?

Kayla: *tackles Ed* Don't know, don't care.

Ed: SAVE ME!

Kayla: DON'T LISTEN TO HIM!


	15. 15: Hidden Memories of Justice

Kayla: *sitting by window peeking outside*

Ed: What are you do-

Kayla: Shhhh! I'm waiting for the mailman!

Ed: Kayla, the mail came about an hour ago.

Kayla: I'M WAITING FOR THE MAILMAN!

Lela: Okay. This and the next chapter are up because Ace isn't sure when she's gonna get at a computer next, so...

Envy: Blah blah blah, her needs. Look, a review from Furorensu-Chan! I DO NOT LIKE YOU BECAUSE YOU ARE ANNOYING! I LIKE TO PERFORM THE PHSYICAL ACTION OF ANNOYING YOU!

Lela: Okay, did not need to know that...

Ed: Because he won't stop calling me short.

Envy: And she already started working on it. I mean, the first two chapters were sorta written before the plot so...

Lela: And thank you, DarkVampirePrincess8, for plotting revenge with us on the alchemists, but that's really not nessicary. *evil laughter*

Ed: OH MY GOD, THE PANTHER'S GONE EVIL TOO!

Envy: *sniffle* I taught her well...

Lela: Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

* * *

15: Hidden Memories of Justice

(7 years prior)

Sonya did not remember her mother all too well. That was intentional. She did not remember her father much either. That was also intentional. She was certain Lela recalled their parents a little too often for her tastes, and as for Kayla, well, Sonya hypothesized she'd forgotten their parents in favor of Lela. Sonya preferred to think of herself as parentless; she found her parents' deaths, both of them, rather suspicious, but she hadn't said anything to anyone because she knew well enough what had been going on behind closed doors with Lela, and that was all Lela's rat to spill, not Sonya's.

No, Sonya did not entirely trust Lela, even now that they were free. There was good reason for that. Sonya had heard the scratching of a twig into the dirt, the dull sound of charcoal breaking against bare skin. She had felt the upraised paper Lela'd stolen from their father's office the night he'd died. She had sensed the gaze of someone who had killed many innocents upon her, likely the gaze of a State Alchemist from the Ishvalan War. Sonya did not trust alchemists as far as she could throw them, despite one major thing standing in the way of her theory.

Sonya was the only Animalia sister to be able to use alchemy. She merely had to close her sightless eyes, clasp her hands together as if in prayer, think of a few shapes stolen from the mists of her subconscious mind, and press her palms to an object to activate her alchemy. It was her single greatest shame, and she did everything in her power to suppress it. Was it justice? No, but that was okay. Sonya didn't believe in justice anyway.

* * *

(1 year later)

Sonya did not like being imprisoned by the alchemists, but she _did_ like being kept in the same room, which gave her the confidence she always gained when in familiar surroundings. She never did like alchemists, not since she'd firmly decided Lela and her number-working was alchemy and was in league with the others. Sonya, unlike her older sister, did not experience visions of grandeur and wasn't expecting the alchemists to restore her sight. They didn't give a damn about whether she could see or not, and quite frankly, neither did she. You couldn't miss what you had never experienced. Even so, she didn't think they would do what they'd thought was a worthwhile experiment but she thought, along with the rest of the world, was wrong.

They poisoned her food with enough toxins to kill a full-grown bull elephant in the prime of its life. She never stood a chance, falling to the ground of her prison lifelessly. In her last moment of life, she thought weakly, _If I ever meet up with Lela in the afterlife, I will personally _kill_ her, I promise._

* * *

(Exact time unknown)

Sonya slowly opened her eyes to see something. It was nothing important, just blinding white, but it was still so much more that what the little blind girl was used to. She held perfectly still, overwhelmed by sensation, and closed her eyes in an attempt to seek some familiarity in her unexpected situation. "Come now, little one. Hiding from change will get you nowhere in life," a voice nearby said, startling the girl.

"Who are you?" she squeaked, terrified.

A light chuckle met her ears as a hand gently stroked her forehead. "I have many names and many faces. I doubt you would want to know them all. Let's just say I am the Truth and leave it at that for now, little Sonya."

The girl cocked her head, confused, but did not dare to so much as crack open an eye to behold this place. "Where am I?"

"A strange question for you to ask. Most would be asking if I am God or 'what the hell was I thinking, bringing them here' is another popular one, especially these days with all that alchemy bullshit."

"I don't like alchemists either. They were the ones who poisoned me, you know."

"My dear," the Truth choked out, seemingly holding back laughter, "you _are_ an alchemist."

"Don't remind me," she grumbled. "Now, will you _please_ tell me where we are?"

"That's another hard question to answer, pet, as we are both everywhere and nowhere all at once. The domain of the Gate exists wherever it must."

"Fan-fucking-tastic."

"That's rather strong language for someone so young," the Truth chided gently.

"Who are you, my parent?"

"Yes… and no."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It isn't. I'm sorry to interrupt our lovely conversation, but you must pass through the Gate if you wish to remain untainted."

"Yes," she murmured confusedly, letting the creepy black arms take her through the ominous arch, her final words echoing back to the Truth. "Good-bye."

The Truth smiled sadly. "Farewell… Justice."

* * *

(1 year after previous stated time)

Sonya gasped, her body arching in pain. Something was not right. Her sight was already gone again, and she felt strange, almost as if she had wings. Her gut twisted painfully as a needle shoved into her arm, and she screamed loudly. Her mind didn't know what was wrong, it was still too busy reeling from what she'd learned in the Gate to comprehend much of anything, but her body did. "Stop trying to purify me!" she screeched, eyes flashing purple, "Carrying the blessing of God will consume me!" There was another injection, prompting another buck, and she screamed as the agony rolled on.

When the pain finally left her gasping on the cold concrete floor, her oldest sister was there, stroking her hair and murmuring, "Come on Sonya. We're leaving, before its' too late."

Sonya glared at Lela, anger burning in her red eyes. "It already _is_ too late, you bitch."

* * *

Ed: Why is it that we're the only ones here?

Envy: Because I left them to go loot Wal-Mart.

Lela: Why aren't you there with them?

Envy: There wasn't anything really left to burn or destroy.

Ed and Lela: Oh.

Kayla: Reviews will be rewarded with licks because they will bring the mailman!


	16. 16: A Lost Innocence Recalled

Envy: Blah blah blah, already explained the early update, moving right along!

Ed: Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

Lela: Come on, Master, let's go back to looting Wal-Mart.

Envy: I'm right behind you! *walks off with panther girl to go do evil things*

* * *

16: A Lost Innocence Recalled

(7 years prior)

Kayla couldn't believe it. Lela had said she'd found a pretty decent place for once, solid as a rock on the main floor, and apparently it even had a pool. Unlike her younger sister, who'd only harrumphed at the news and crossed her arms, Kayla was ecstatic and practically bouncing in her delight. It was a rare emotion for Kayla to experience, actual happiness these days, what with the alchemists always on their tails for some reason Kayla couldn't' figure out; in fact, the girl would often voice that she wished for a father. When Sonya had asked why not wish for a mother, Kayla had merely blinked and replied that Lela already _was_ their mom.

Like an overexcited puppy, Kayla ran ahead along every street, paying little heed to what few passerby were in the area, and anxiously awaited every now and again for the other two to catch up with an impatient look upon her face before she would dash off again. Like any other eight-year-old, her fantasies of the house were grand and wildly out-of-proportion for the ill-fated trio. _There will be all kinds of cookies and a fountain that sprays chocolate milk and plenty of room for me to run around in with my friends! Sonya's eyesight will come back when we get there and Mom and Dad'll be there waiting for us to come home again! Wait, Lela was afraid of Momma when she was mad and Daddy when he wasn't, and I don't want her to be afraid anymore, so instead, there'll be a kind boy there to be our new Daddy and he and Lela will fall in love just like all parents do, and we'll all live happily ever after because all those nasty alchemists will fall down a well and be eaten by rabid possums with baby-eating weasels and puppies with Cheez-whiz and kitties with whipped cream and cookies!_ Delighted with the idea, she blurted out, "I call first round with the kittens and the cookies!"

Lela laughed at that, and Sonya facepalmed loudly with fairly impressive aim for a blind person. "Whatever floats your boat, Kayla," the oldest sister chuckled. Jolting forward with the energy of a sugar rush, Kayla ran ahead, skidding around a corner she wasn't supposed to. Two alchemists met the startled gaze of the naïve eight-year-old with smirks to rival that of a fox who'd just found the door to the chicken coop unlocked and wide open. They jumped on Kayla, pressing a cloth soaked in chloroform against the girl's gasping mouth until her struggling grew weaker and weaker. Only one thought remained in her mind as she blacked out. _How did they know?_(1½ years later)

* * *

Kayla let out a little whimper as she was given yet another injection. Her paws, covered in a light helping of silver fur, clenched around a ragged teddy bear unconsciously, unintentionally ripping through the stitching holding the arm to the body. A pair of lamp-like yellow eyes gazed pleadingly into those of her caretaker, but all she received was a slap across her cheek. She went reeling backwards, landing heavily on her pillow dog-bed.

She didn't dare move. She merely faked unconsciousness, knowing he never enjoyed it nearly as much when she wasn't awake, aware of exactly what he was doing to her, and squirming desperately underneath him. Tears pricked shamefully at the corners of her eyes, but she did not dare acknowledge them in any way. Heart pounding in her throat, she held perfectly still as her food, dog kibble mixed in with raw meat, the jackass, clattered into the metal bowl inscribed with her name, Kayla. It was only once she'd heard the clang of the door closing that she dared to investigate her wounds, the ones he'd inflicted on her so often she'd become mute to he pain and suffering she endured on a daily basis at his hands.

Carefully, she felt along her sides, whimpering pitifully when she found a particularly intense pain in her side, but sadly enough, Kayla was already familiar to that kind of pain. It meant that she had fractured a rib, something that would only last a day or two before her incredible healing process as an Ark Angel took over and repaired the damage. Careful not to jar herself, the wolf girl curled up, ears twitching, and fell into an uneasy slumber, hoping that someone, _anyone_, would save her.

* * *

(6 months later)

There was a familiar clang, one that made Kayla's ears twitch in the midst of sleep and her blood run cold in horror. She knew well what was about to happen. "Wake up, mutt," a cold voice snarled, stroking a cool finger down Kayla's back and up her tail.

She whimpered, her tail tucking closer to her. "No, no, please, don't." Her eyes showed deep fright. She was not the Alpha. It was not her whims that directed them. He was the Alpha. His whims were what drove them forward, despite her unwillingness.

"Why not, mutt? After all, don't dogs do this all the time?"

Yes, Kayla thought desperately, but I'm not a dog! She squeezed her eyes shut, hoping against hope that things wouldn't go that way again.

Instead, a strong female voice, cold as ice, whipped through the air like a knife. "Get off my sister, you miserable excuse for a human."

He shifted, sneering at the small figure standing there with long hair, devil wings, and bat ears. "Look who's talking, Sonya."

Instantly Sonya, for it was really she, pinned the alchemist to the wall, a knife black as night against his throat. "Unlike you, I'm not human and abusing ten-year-old girls for sex. Your crimes against truth far outnumber mine, bastard."

Another figure came in then, taking hold of Kayla comfortingly. It was Lela. The wolf girl tightened her grip on her older sister, ignoring the strong smell of iron cloaking the cat girl. "Come on, Kayla, this isn't something you'll want to see," she murmured soothingly and tugged on her younger sibling. "Be sure to find us quickly, Sonya."

"After I deliver justice to this lowlife," Sonya spat, pressing the knife closer to the alchemist's throat. Lela nodded and quickly pulled Kayla from the room, but she'd already seen the look of pure evil on Sonya's face, and it was one that would haunt her for years to come.

* * *

Kayla: IT'S THE MAILMAN! *tackles*

Ed: KAYLA, I AM NOT THE MAILMAN!

Kayla: You're not?

Ed: No. I do deliver paperwork to the unsuspecting people who dare to question my height though.

Kayla: Darn. Oh well, I'm not complaining!

Ed: Wha- *is silenced by Kayla kissing him*

Kayla: *pulls away* OH YEAH, THE REVIEWERS! Gosh, it's so hard to remember things when they're all off on a massive crime wave. Reviewers will recieve a magical key to get into my magical house of wonders as stated above with your choice of random dreamy guy inside!

Ed: You were so spaztastic at eight. You still are.

Kayla: AW, THANKS ED! *continues kissing*

Ed: *breaks away* STORY-WILL-BE-ENDING-SOON-AND-IN-TRAGEDY!

Kayla: STOP SPOILING THINGS FOR THE MASSES! NOW I'M GONNA HAVE TO PUNISH YOU!

Ed: SAVE ME!


	17. 17: A Problem Without Solution

Ace: I finally have Internet access again! *does happy dance*

Sonya: Oh, Ace, so full of yourself for so little reason.

Ace: I actually get to romance-romance in this chapter.

Sonya: *does happy dance*

Lela: Wait, for just Kayla or all of us?

Ace: All three of you.

Lela and Kayla: *do happy dance*

Envy, Ed, and Greed: *collective sweatdrop* Oh God.

Envy: Furorensu-Chan, I will be forced to hunt you down and gut you like the horrible piece of fish that you are. I AM NOT AN IDIOT BECAUSE YOU MISREAD ME!

Lela: As you can see, taking out your anger on Envy wasn't the smartest thing you've ever done.

Sonya: EternalHypernova, let me assure you that I did make his death horrible and excrusiatingly painful. No one sexually abuses my sisters like that and gets away with it! And no, Walmart never was the same ever again. We hit all the ones in a 15 mile radius of Ace's house too...

Greed: Let me guess on who was in your house of wonders. Ling-Greed, right?

Kayla: Hey, Ed!

Ed: What?

Kayla: Furorensu-Chan told me to rape you!

Ed: NOT AGAIN!

Sonya: DarkVampirePrincess8 again! What the Truth was saying there was that I was a new kind of homunculus sort of thing (notice the brief mention of the violet eyes in the scene where she becomes an angel? Yeah, that's her when she's a homunculus), only instead of being a sin, I'm a good person-thing called Justice.

Kayla: Aw! You want to protect me? Thanks for the lovely compliments!

Ed: But she's my responcibility to protect, and I WILL PROTECT HER IF IT'S THE LAST THING I EVER DO!

Ace: I'll explain the timeline after this chapter, okay?, okay. Now, someone do the disclaimer!

Envy: Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

Lela: Enjoy!

* * *

17: A Problem Without Solution

"So you were brought back from the dead," Greed said slowly, "but instead of becoming a homunculus, you became a fallen angel?"

Sonya didn't meet his eyes. "I guess. They had trouble unlocking my full angelic powers, but other than that detail, you got it right."

"What can you do?" he asked, curious.

She bit her lip, running through the list in her mind. _Unnatural speed and strength, feathery wings, unbelievable beauty, full blindness (in theory), the ability to go back and forth to the Gate (since the Gate was sacred ground after all), creating weapons made of pure light (or shadow if she had gone evil), making others into angels as well (in effect, deputizing them)_. "Nothing too impressive," she lied.

He saw through her deception but didn't push her. He'd been feeling fond of her for years, but there were so many kinds of wrong with that particular fondness towards a fourteen-year-old. It'd been harder to fight the feelings after her feeding, but he would for her sake. "If you ever need anything, angel, I'll be here for you."

She smiled, feeling her heart lurch a little. "Okay," she whispered. For once, she found that she was willing to lay aside her pride and let someone help her, and it was all because of a little tickling feeling in her heart that had started sometime after he'd rescued her from those damned alchemists. Then, without warning, she pressed her lips to his.

* * *

"Lela," Envy whispered, stretching out a hand towards her slowly in an attempt to comfort his kitten. He had never taken away anguish from someone before, only given it, so he didn't really know what to do, but he wouldn't let that stop him from trying. She growled at him, flashing her teeth threateningly, but he was confident enough she wouldn't horribly maim him that he reached back and stroked her hair softly. Almost immediately, the growling dissolved into satisfied purring, and she moved a little closer to him without her body asking her mind for permission. _What are you doing?_ her logical side screamed at her, _He is the enemy! He's trying to stop you from destroying your research!_

_No_, she thought firmly, surprising them both by crawling onto his lap and burying her face in his half-shirt as though she was little more than a newborn kitten, _He's stopping me from destroying _myself. "Envy," she purred, her tail wrapping around his arm contentedly.

"My kitten," he growled possessively, tightening his arms around her.

"I am yours." She looked up at him, her green eyes half-lidded in happiness. Seeing her like that, a quivering mass of fur in his lap, sent him over the edge. Quickly, before his common sense could catch up to him or the chimera in his lap could figure out what he was about to do, Envy, the cruelest and most hard-hearted of all the homunculi, leaned down and captured Lela's lips in a kiss.

* * *

"Oh Kayla, how did you ever find the courage to let anyone come near you after all that, never mind reach the level of comfort you've obtained with Al and I?" Edward asked, caressing Kayla's head and purposely ignoring the tears gleaming on her muzzle.

"I feel very safe around you, and you've never given me reason to doubt that," she admitted, putting a paw on his arm in a very human-like gesture. "Whenever I'm around you, I feel like all those bad alchemists can't touch me and if they ever tried, you would fight to protect me." Before he could manage to come up with a reply to that, however, she sneezed, her entire body jolting cutely with the force.

"Bless you," he chuckled, resisting the urge to go 'awwww' and kiss the very tip of her nose. "Do you think you can change back so that we'll have an easier time sneaking you into the hospital with me?"

Her eyes lit up mischievously and suddenly it was Kayla standing there in front of Ed rather than the silver wolf that Kayla took when she shape-changed, but for once, she didn't lean forward to lick his nose like she normally would. Instead, she leaned forward and swiftly bit him at the base of his neck. "There," she murmured, "I marked you."

He yelped lightly and jerked, which made her realize she might've hurt him just a little, and her tail and ears drooped. She gently pressed her mouth to the wound in an apology, feeling a tad bit relieved when she couldn't taste any blood on her tongue. "What are you doing, Kayla?"

"Protecting you from chimeras," she breathed against his skin.

"How do you reason that one out? You can bite pretty hard, Kayla."

"My scent covers both you and Al pretty thoroughly, and one of the perks to being an Ark Angel is knowing that to a normal chimera, my scent goes straight to the self-preservation parts of their brains. Anything short of another Ark Angel isn't likely to bother you, especially with that bite on your neck now."

"Yes, but what does it mean to them?"

Mate, she thought, it means I've marked you as my mate. "That you're part of a pack. My pack." He rolled his eyes at that, well aware he was the Alpha in their little pack, not her, and gave his red coat to her to hide her tail, fur-covered arms, paws in the sleeves because she was actually smaller than he was, and ears underneath the hood. She followed him back to the hospital, thinking hard about what she'd just done. She didn't regret it, but would he if he'd known what she'd done? Outside his room, Kayla tugged Edward to a stop, causing him to look back at her in confusion, and steeling her nerve, she pushed up onto the pads of her back paws in order to gain the height she needed to lock her lips with his.

* * *

Ace: Okay, you three do the epic timeline thingy for DarkVampirePrincess8!

Sonya: I was 11 when the story started, 9 when we escaped, died at 8, captured at 7, lost my dad at 6 and my mom at 5

Kayla: So I was 12, then 10 at the escape, 8 at capture, lost dad at 7, and mom at 6.

Lela: And I was 13, then 11, 9, 8, and 7.

Envy: Wow, you all were such strange children.

Ed: I'll say.

Greed: Our childhoods were far more normal than yours, and we didn't even have much of a childhood at all.

Kayla: Oh yeah, what did you guys do at Wal-mart that took you all so long?

Ace: We were looking for the boob guy who stole our stuff when it went over the cliff. He took all the Cheez-Whiz and whipped cream before we got there. We're now gonna go try to find a nice Publix to rob for sugar so that we can make our own frosting!

Kayla: Anyone who reviews gets some of our magical frosting we make!

Lela: And for Ace's loyal reviewer, Furorensu-Chan, there'll be a special surprise in the next chapter for you! Until next time, readers!


	18. 18: The Complications of Love

Ace: I meant to say this last chapter, but the next several chapters are brought to you through the magic of WiFi. Go WiFi!

Kayla: Yay WiFi!

Lela: Let's just get around to reviews, now shall we?

Sonya: DarkVampirePrincess8 again? Wow, you sure are persistant! And again, I can't use any of my powers yet because they couldn't unlock my angel powers.

Ace: Not for too much longer though. *evil smile*

Greed: GAH! Why does no one notice the only one who started the kissing other than these three little chimeras is the homicidal cross-dressing palm tree?

Envy: HEY! *tackles Greed* WHO ARE YOU CALLING A USELESS PLANT THAT CAN'T HOLD UP ANY MAN-CLOTHES BECAUSE HE HAS NOTHING UNDERNEATH THEM?

Lela: Ah, you can really see why the anime says that Envy and Ed are related.

Ed: I'm related to that thing? *faints in horror*

Kayla: Darn, now I'm not gonna get to rape him.

Sonya: ANYWAY, you're welcome for the quick timeline and thanks to you, we ran out of frosting for ourselves, but we found the boob guy and stole back some whipped cream using Ace's rabid weasel minions.

Kayla: And now, Furorensu-Chan, for your surprise, skip down to my section and read the first sentense of the fifth paragraph.

Envy: I totally know how to find you, ungrateful whelp. I HAVE WAYS OF FINDING YOU SO HIDEOUS THAT IT WILL MAKE YOU WANT TO SCREAM IN AGONY!

Lela: I don't know, Furorensu-Chan, I think Envy's pretty serious abou this...

Kayla: Oooh, you made a special flag for me! I have to use it! *tackles Ed and begins nipping at neck*

Ace: Okay, before any of us lose what's left of our innocence, somebody do the disclaimer.

Greed: Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

Envy: Enjoy.

* * *

18: The Complications of Love

Sonya could feel the hesitation in Greed from her sudden kiss, and while it didn't infuriate her, she didn't like it. She swapped his mouth for nipping at his jaw line, well aware all the seduction techniques she knew she'd learned from observing the sin doing the same thing to unsuspecting females. "You're over-thinking this, Greed," she purred.

"Sonya, you are 14. I am over 200 years old. This isn't right." He pushed her back to arms-length, knowing the more space he put between them, the less likely he would give into her faulty logic.

She rolled her eyes. "Please. I'm every inch as immortal as you are, so the fact that you are a good 200 plus years my senior doesn't really matter."

"You're still in the body of a fourteen-year-old-"

"Not true. Ever since I came back as an angel, I've been fully mature."

Dammit, he was really starting to run out of negative arguments. "Don't you think you'd be cast from Heaven for being with a homunculus, a sin?"

She leaned in close to him, her breath fanning across his face with every syllable she uttered. "Avenging angel or not, I seriously doubt they'd permit me into Heaven anyway. Killers don't really make good saints. Besides," she murmured, pulling away teasingly and plopping down on the bed behind her, "a fallen angel cast out of Heaven is much more my MO, don't you agree?"

_Shit_, he thought, _she turned into a right little succubus._ "You may be right about killers and saints, but ending someone's life is only one sinful act. There are many more out there." At this point, he was standing before her with his classic smirk on his face as he leaned towards her.

"Then teach me."

* * *

The instant Envy's mouth came into contact with hers, Lela's brain short-circuited; it had been nine years since she'd had to do this kind of thing. Luckily, her body remembered what to do well enough to move her lips with his and to part them when his tongue sought entrance. However, when he pushed her down so that her back was on the bed, her brain came back in touch with reality, sort of. In a spike of fear, her claws shot out, pricking his neck. She'd been in that position far too many times during the course of her childhood to simply accept it now and not freak out, even if it was only Envy. Then she remembered it was Envy atop her, not her father, he was dead, and pulled her claws back in. Ears drooping, she pulled away from his mouth and submissively presented her cheek to him.

"It's okay, kitten. You didn't mean it." Envy could see the shock in her green eyes, knowing she had been reacting on a subconscious level when she'd unsheathed her claws on him. It was an unintended accident, and there was no way he'd punish her for that.

She started trembling. "But Master, I hurt you. I should be punished for that, not rewarded."

"I am _not_ going to punish you for an instinct bred into by that asshat you called a shitty excuse for a father, kitten," he growled, purple eyes narrowing at the thought of what her parents had done to her because she'd chosen to protect her younger siblings. If they hadn't already been dead, he would've hunted them down and slowly, painfully killed them for hurting his little kitten. Hesitantly, she turned back to look at him with her large emerald pools. He reached out and began caressing her velvety ears. "Good girl," he murmured quietly, kissing her forehead and smiling gently when she jumped and tensed at the unexpected action. "It's okay, Lela. I won't let anyone hurt you ever again, I promise."

* * *

To Kayla's surprise, Ed didn't push her away from him in disgust and scold her for doing something so rash. Instead, he instantly responded, kissing back and wrapping his arms around her to hold her even closer. He pressed her against the wall, using it to bring her closer to him, and she let out a little whine of approval. Then it all went wrong.

"Brother?"

"Ed? What are you doing?"

"And you say _I_ have no shame, Fullmetal."

The young alchemist froze guiltily, knowing he had to protect Kayla from Roy. It would be rather difficult to explain to Al and Winry why he was kissing Kayla but even harder to explain to Roy why he kissing a chimera he had absolutely no intention of letting the Military have. Quickly, he ran his golden eyes over the wolf girl, seeing that the hood of his coat had fallen from her ears, and swiftly jerked it back over them. "I'm fifteen, Colonel," he hedged, turning around to deal with the one who didn't know first, "It's perfectly normal for me to be kissing girls."

"_Girls_ or girl _chimeras_, Fullmetal? After all, I don't think most girls have _tails_ sticking out of their butts."

"Pervert," Ed muttered, looking back to see that Kayla's feathery silver tail was indeed visibly poking out from underneath his coat. "Why were you even looking back there in the first place? She's only fifteen, and you're what, 26? 27?"

Roy smirked evilly, letting the jab at his age slide. "Still, you were the one kissing her. I doubt they'd look down on treason in a State Alchemist all too kindly."

Kayla spoke up then. "Please sir, don't report Edward. It would do you no good to turn us in, not when I'd only escape again and take him with me."

"You are being quite loyal to Edward considering the fact he is an alchemist."

"How could I not? Loyalty to my pack has been imprinted in my DNA, but aren't even you humans fiercely loyal to your mates as well?"

Ed's head snapped around at her completely casual implication of the pair being mates (no doubt remembering the neck bite, wink wink), and Roy's eyebrows rose at that. "Sounds to me like the pair of you have some serious explaining to do."

"No shit, Sherlock," Winry declared, holding a wrench up, which made Kayla bristle at the threat to Ed as they slipped into the hospital room to explain everything.

* * *

Ace: HAHA! You just got one chapter closer to the coming end of this story! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Roy: Great, I get to be down here because I made a guest appearance. Then someone (cough, Furorensu-Chan, hack) will come and steal me away and lock me inside a closet.

Kayla: Yeah, Ace, why did you get him involved?

Ed: That's my question too.

Ace: Because he had to meet Kayla before the end of the story so that he could be involved with the sequel!

Lela: Oh.

Envy: TIME TO BEGIN MY EVIL PLAN! *runs off*

Greed: Oh God. I know Envy, and he's bound to make us all suffer with his dumb-ass plan.

Sonya: Which is why we'll just offer up whipped cream from the boob guy's house and end it. Bye bye!


	19. 19: The Reasons for Everything

Ace: Gah, I'm so sorry! I meant to update yesterday, but I kinda got distracted…

Sonya: Yeah, enough to write up another three chapters.

Ace: Hey, I almost finished the story, okay, so shut up!

Greed: Yeah, thanks for that.

Sonya: I really like what you ended up doing to us.

Lela: Stop arguing with Ace over how much you two hate the ending because we all do, and get to the reviews!

Greed: DarkVampirePrincess8 is first. Well, um, you see, I kinda did accept it, but, uh, OH, JUST READ THE CHAPTER TO FIGURE IT OUT!

Lela: And the reason I hated my parents was because my mom physically abused me and my dad sexually abused me because I protected my sisters from them.

Kayla: And yes, we got caught, but how else was he supposed to figure out I was a chimera?

Ace: And there will be a sequel to this one, and likely a sequel to that one as well. I'm just adding so many OCs to catch up with the angels though…

Envy: Now time for my bestest buddy, Furorensu-Chan. I can so totally find you especially since you'd be spazzing on the floor 'cuz of Mustang, and you should be screaming when you see me! Mwahahahahahahahaha!

Lela: Seriously, I'd give it up by now. Not worth the murder.

Kayla: Yay, more encouragement! And as Ace stated, it is almost over. There should only be another 4 chapters at max.

Ed: And I seriously didn't need to know you're gonna steal my boss and lock him in your closet.

Greed: Yay, time to pollute the new reviewer!

Envy: I like the way you think!

Sonya: I do too! *kisses Greed* Okay, the reviewer is CSI Aphrodite, and I will personally be coming around to your house because you want my Greed!

Ace: I DON'T WANT TO DIE BECAUSE I DIDN'T UPDATE!

Kayla: YEAH, DON'T KILL HER BECAUSE OTHERWISE I WON'T BE ABLE TO RAPE ED!

Ed: *sigh* Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist. Now please enjoy the chapter.

* * *

19: The Reasons For Everything

Lela couldn't believe Envy could be so tame after he'd kissed her. There was no pressure for sex, and the kissing was mainly instigated by the chimera rather than the homunculus. He was all soft words and gentle caresses because he knew Lela had never been properly in charge before. She didn't want to be in charge though. She'd fallen in love with a sarcastic, possessive bastard, and while she knew he could be sweet and kind, she didn't want him to hold himself back because of her.

Still, she couldn't deny it felt really good when his hands would stroke down her long black hair. She had never purred for anyone but him before. Lying there beside him in their bed, feeling his hands scratch behind her ears soothingly, she finally dared to admit something to him. "I love you, Envy."

His hands paused for a moment before starting up again. "I love you too, kitten," he murmured, sealing his words with a kiss. If only the had noticed the pair of eyes watching their confessions, a pair of little soulless eyes.

* * *

Sonya smiled, a few strands of her chestnut hair falling into her face, as she watched Greed trace the bone of her wing slowly with a finger, following its subtle curve. The pair of angel and sin shared a bed every night they could, becoming lovers in every sense of the word. She felt his sigh against her shoulder as he pulled away from her, making himself decent. "Where are you going?" she asked, curious.

"To work. Where else?" he teased. "You coming?"

"Nah. I think I'll play hooky today, catch some more zs."

"Okay. I'll tell the others not to disturb you."

"Please and thank you."

* * *

"Edward," Kayla whined, wriggling around on the train seat, "I'm bored."

The blond alchemist interrupted his fearful distanced look to glare at the antsy girl beside him (Al and Winry and everyone who's not Ed doesn't know she can change into a wolf yet). "You were perfectly content to climb over me before to look out the window and entertain yourself."

* * *

The instant Kayla got to their compartment, she yanked down the blinds and proceeded to throw her gloves, coat, and hat over a seat pointedly in a display of 'I obey Ed but have my own freewill about me'. Of course, her display was completely ruined when she jumped onto him in a flying tackle and then sat in his lap as if that was completely normal behavior, which for Kayla, it was. He sighed, pushing her to the cushion beside him so that he could eat Gracia Hughes's pie that Winry had brought, which Kayla had rather happily declined, saying that it smelled strongly enough to make her not want to risk overwhelming her sensitive taste buds, which came as a relief to Ed since Kayla was hyper enough without adding sugar to the mix.

Kayla wouldn't stand for being pushed to the side, but even her urge to be close to her mate had to bow to getting between Edward and his food. Instead, she patiently waited for him to be done before climbing back on him, kicking off her shoes so that her back paws could balance on the bones of his legs, and pressing her front paws and face to the glass of the window. Her tail wagged frantically, smacking him in the chest, and she shifted her weight about eagerly, unknowingly presenting the young alchemist with a nice view of her butt. Face reddening because Winry and Al were there with them, he yanked on her tail so that her butt was now firmly on his lap. "Your nails are sharp," he explained to her confused gaze (Kayla's wolf instincts view attention on Ed's part, be it good or bad, as a wonderful thing, so the only way for him to properly discipline her is to either ignore her or attempt to reason with her human instincts).

* * *

"You're just grumpy because of your impeding self-imposed visit to your teacher," she huffed. "Don't take it out on me."

"It's not entirely my fault we're all gonna die when Teacher figures out what we did."

"My God, Brother, she's gonna kill us! I don't want to die without a body!"

"You can both relax. Neither of you are in any real danger."

"What makes you say that, Kayla?"

She paused for a moment to gather her thoughts and allow her ears a brief chance to recover from Ed's shouting. "Well, Al won't die because even if his blood seal was destroyed, his mind would only pull his soul back into his body. I mean, yeah, there is a chance the shock could kill him, but from what I've learned, that's only a minor chance. No offense Al," she added quickly, seeing the disgusted look on Edward's face at her cavalier attitude to that. "And as for Edward, well, wolves mate for life, and since I claimed Ed as mine, the primal wolf part of me is incredibly possessive and protective as a result, and the protectiveness is something even the human part of me can fully endorse." Yawning her and conspicuously flashing her slightly-longer canines, she growled, "And I fully intend to protect my mate from any homicidal maniacs," (apparently Envy isn't included in that since he's only a homicidal cross-dressing palm tree), "even if that homicidal maniac _does_ happen to be your old alchemy teacher."

"… You do realize she'll kill you if she discovers you're a chimera or you try to protect me."

Kayla smirked. "I assure you, Edward, there is no human who could manage to kill me single-handedly. Us Ark Angels are made of some damn tough stuff."

* * *

Ace: The end of another chapter, and we are even closer to the end of everything.

Kayla: Aw. And I don't like what you're planning to do to me either.

Ace: *whisper whisper*

Kayla: DO IT, DO IT, DO IT!

Ed: Suddenly, I am so much more concerned.

Ace: You should be.

Lela: Since Greed, Sonya, and Envy ran off to go find out where CSI Aphrodite lives, I'll offer the reward for reviewers as a magical time-warp that will take you to a special area with Ed's train compartment, only you can have whoever you want to climb all over to look out the window.

Ace: I LIKE TRAINS!

Kayla: I DO TOO! *runs off with Ace to train station*

Ed: I guess I should go after them to make sure they don't blow up the train station. *follows after the pair*

Lela: Right behind you.


	20. 20: A House of Cards

Ace: Meh, everything's so Kayla-heavy right now, but that's because her story is what's moving us to Sonya's who moves us to Lela's and the end, which is Chapter 23! I have it mostly written out, just need to finish up the last scene, Lela's sadly enough (though I will admit, my pervert mind is in overload in how to properly pervertize a shower without the girl realizing it or them having sex).

Kayla: *steals page* I hate you, Ace! Why? Why must you end it like that? Why?

Ed: *steals from Kayla* I SOUND WAY TOO OVER-EMOTIONAL IN THE ENDING!

Ace: Good, you should be because (censored to prevent spoilers).

Ed: You are so going down when this is all over.

Ace: Nuh uh, 'cuz it's review-answering time!

Envy: Okay, CSI Aphrodite is still here, meaning we still need to terrify her out of her mind!

Lela: Envy, no scarring the reviewers for life!

Envy: And what happens if I do?

Lela: I'll tell Ace not to write the sex in the sequel.

Envy: *pales* You wouldn't.

Ace: Want to try me?

Envy: No.

Lela: And you have to stop fighting with Furorensu-Chan too!

Envy: … Fine.

Ace: Oh, and I think I might be grounded soon, so if I don't update for a while, don't send Kimbley after me, it's not my fault!

Lela: Hey, look, it's a special request from Furorensu-Chan for you, Envy!

Envy: Well, since I can't go fight with you anymore about stuff I can't particularly remember either, I will just disclose that my method of finding you was to track down Colonel Roy Mustang at his office and offer to do some of his paperwork in exchange for the knowledge of your whereabouts.

Ace: It probably would've worked too.

Kayla: And with the way she's ending this story, I can't wait for the sequel either! Sonya's the only one who gets married, lucky duck. (Note: wolf marriages are consummated by sex, so in Kayla's wolf mind, Sonya and Greed are married.)

Ed: *eyes go huge when looking at note*

Lela: And yes, I do think I give fairly good rewards.

Ace: Ed, would you mind-

Ed: *squeaky voice* Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist. Enjoy! *holds up sign that says SAVE ME!*

* * *

20: A House of Cards

Kayla's ears drooped low enough for the tips to brush against her hair as a butcher's knife flew out of nowhere and impaled itself into a wood beam a few inches above the top of her head, making her being to doubt her earlier words on the train. The only thing that had stopped it from making its way into her hat rather than the wood was her ears picking up the distinctive sound of the air whistling over the steel blade and her wolf instincts reacting instantly to the threat before her brain had even deciphered what the noise heralded. Of course, that also wouldn't have happened if she hadn't swept Ed out of the way, but there was absolutely no way she'd willingly let her mate suffer so much as a scratch so long as she was around. She uttered a low growl as she straightened, and her tail started to come out from between her legs, the wispy feathers of her silver fur bristling in that wolf-show of puffing one's self up to intimidate. Seeing the rising fabric of her coat, Edward pulled on her tail, muttering, "Kayla, down, _now_."

The chimera lowered her tail but was still stiff as a board. Ed, her mate, was still in mortal peril, and Alpha's orders or not, she would not stand idly by while he suffered. She would protect him, even at the cost of her own life. Her pale yellow eyes narrowed, ears upright underneath her hat so that she could hear the stomping of sandals against the wood floor. "How _dare_ you come back _here_, dog of the Military?"

Edward winced. "Teacher, please, let us explain-" he gasped, but the woman who had stomped out quickly threw him somewhere deep in the heart of the city with Al following close behind. Kayla snarled furiously, clearly torn between killing the woman or going after Ed and Al, but she only took a moment's hesitation before spinning on her heel and darting off into now, not when Ed was in danger and could be hurt somewhere.

* * *

Lela sighed happily, purring as she leaned into Envy's touch. She had to admit, at first she'd had her doubts about wearing something that was basically a black sports bra for lack of a better description, but the lovely soft feel of his fingers on her bare flesh and fur felt divine. Her emerald eyes slid shut. She trusted the homunculus with all her being. He would never betray her.

* * *

_Sonya could tell she was dreaming when she dreamt of Kayla with a blond boy with cat ears and a tail and Lela with a green-haired boy with the cat appendages and a shadow of wings behind him. Finding her siblings rather unimportant, the youngest Animalia turned to find Greed, only to see he was nowhere in her dream. Instead, the Truth sat before her with the Gate and a girl with long black hair, red eyes, and angel wings. The Truth looked straight at Sonya and whispered, "Beware, Justice, for all this shall one day come to pass, and remember, not all angels are gifted with wings."_

* * *

Lust knew a secret. Envy was supposed to be a cold-hearted murderer, a dog straining at the leash. Instead, he had chosen to fall in love with a cat that had been declawed. She could not stand for this. As much as she wanted to make her companion happy, she knew what she must do to stop him.

* * *

The angel called Knowledge was, in all honesty, tired of remaining behind the Gate. He knew he was not an avenging angel, but he still wanted to explore, to grow and think, to fulfill his purpose and _learn_. But there was one thing the angel refuse to do, and that was teach, as much as he loved to do it. Knowledge only brought Wisdom, an ancient and powerful angel. No, he would have to find another reason to venture forth.

* * *

After they got past the whole 'dog of the Military', 'creating/hiding a chimera', and 'you broke taboo and I will no longer teach you' things, Kayla had to admit she was rather fond of Izumi and Sig Curtis. She didn't know where to rank them in the pack since Ed and Al were terrified of Izumi but Kayla couldn't think of Edward as anything but her mate and Alpha, but the chimera liked them well enough once she got past the fact that as their teacher, Izumi had the right to knock them around as she pleased.

Of course, going out on the town with Ed for groceries drove all non-Ed-related thoughts from her mind. On the way back, in the middle of laughing at Edward's tale of being abandoned on a deserted island as a kid, Kayla froze, picking up a scent. She couldn't pinpoint the person for the life of her, but it still made her growl low in her throat. Chimeras were here and nearby. Without sparing another thought, she sprinted off after the scent, wanting to make sure the other chimeras recognized her as a potential threat and steered clear of her and her claims.

She ran through the maze of the city, ready for a fight, only to find the scent trail ended at the cemetery. Confused and cautious now, Kayla hopped the fence and continued following the scent until she came to the sole visitor there amongst the cold and forgotten graves. It was a man, part dog if Kayla's nose was correct, and he stood forlornly before a grave marker that only read Eve. "Well, Eve," he murmured, patting the stone, "I guess I'd better get back before the Boss notices I'm gone." Turning, he saw Kayla, and the dog in him caused him to bristle. "Who are you?" he growled.

"Hello," she said, slowly taking off her hat to reveal her ears while the wolf in her longed to simply take him down, "I'm Kayla Animalia."

* * *

Edward couldn't believe it. First Kayla had run off after something, given her current dog-like behavior, likely a cat, and now Al had been kidnapped. Right now, he couldn't figure out who would get it worse when he finally caught up with them, Al's kidnappers or his mate Kayla.

* * *

Ace: Yay, Ed's getting abusive!

Lela: *blink* Why is it that all of your characters have to be abused for you to be content?

Ace: I DENY EVERYTHING!

Lela: I never blamed you for anything.

Ace: I REGRET NOTHING!

Lela: Okay then…

Kayla: Hey, where's Sonya and Greed?

Envy: I don't know. Probably off robbing some helpless oil company or something.

Kayla: *misunderstands what he meant by oil and suffers massive nosebleed as a result*

Ace: Oh Kayla, always ready to rape Edward…

Ed: I think she's been taking perverted lessons from my boss.

Ace: No, that would be me taking the lessons and then teaching her everything I know!

Ed: Fantabulous.

Envy: I know! I was the one who gave your boss his lessons!

Ed: I hate you so much right now.

Lela: Okay, on that note, we'll offer up perverted lessons as a reward to those who review and the option to pick your teacher if you suggest something Ace might use at some point.

Kayla: Okay Ed, time for your lesson!

Ed: NO!


	21. 21: The Signs of Collapse

Ace: Grounded right now, so I'm only allowed an hour on the computer and keeping this short right now by not answering reviews until I'm done with being grounded.

Lela: ACE!

Ace: They should be happy I'm just choosing to put this up for them. Just because I've written up to chapter 23, which is the end, does not mean it's all typed up.

Envy: Fascinating.

Kayla: I KNOW, RIGHT?

Ed: Oh Kayla, refusing to grasp the concept of sarcasm.

Sonya: She never was good at that…

Greed: Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

* * *

21: The Signs of Collapse

"Animalia?" the man asked, and she nodded. "You wouldn't happen to be related to a friend of mine by the name of Sonya, now would you?"

Kayla froze in shock. All this time Sonya had been here? "Sonya's my… little sister," she finally gasped, still lost in the suddenness of discovering where one of her sisters had been all this time. "I haven't seen her in three years." Tears pricked at the corner of her eyes. "I'd given up on her, thought she was dead."

"Come on then," he said gruffly, "I can't leave behind a fellow Canine-Amestrian in need. I'll take you back to the Devil's Nest to see your sister."

* * *

Sonya awoke panting, thinking back on the philosophical words her dream had given her. Not all angels are gifted with wings? What the hell was that supposed to mean? She rolled from her side onto her back to stare at the ceiling, ignoring the pins and needles of protest from her large wings. The only angels who didn't have wings were fallen angels, and according to the Gate, the last fallen angel had died some 1,000 odd years ago. She closed her eyes, feeling like she was on the edge of an epiphany, only for a loud crashing and banging to completely distract her.

"God," she growled, pushing herself upright, "why did Greed have to decide to trash the place _today_, right now of all times?" Deciding she'd rather minimize the structural damage to their home than go dream-searching, she pulled on her dress, lacing it on far more slowly than Greed could when he removed it. She was on the warpath, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop her.

* * *

Lust was sorry it had had to come to this, but she had seen the way Lela and Envy were, and they'd fallen in love, not lust. She knew this was going to tear him apart inside, but she had no other choice. He was beginning to put his pet above the mission, and that simply would not do. "Father, there is something I need to tell you."

* * *

When Kayla heard the crashing, she bolted towards it, leaving the man, Dorochet, in her wake. She'd been around Edward long enough to know the feel of his alchemy, and she could sense he was using it to make the sounds. Skidding around corners haphazardly in her haste, she ran until she found Edward, hurt and bleeding, on the floor. Making a quick assessment of the scene, she snarled and launched herself at the guy with the creepy gray body-suit. She caught a whiff of his scent and growled, knowing it could be firmly labeled as 'homunculus'. She might be here a while.

* * *

Acting on impulse, Sonya ducked just in time for a bullet to whiz over her head and bury itself into the plaster of the wall in front of her. She cussed explicitly, folding up her wings behind herself. Judging by the extreme accuracy of the shot, a Military sharpshooter had fired it, meaning the Military had infiltrated her home. A large part of her wanted to flee, but she would not leave behind her friends and her lover. Hissing out another long stream of curses, she ducked down into one of the many sewer hatches around the building, intending to go to the rendezvous point.

Of course, that all flew out the window when the pair of sword blades clanged loudly above her head. "Aw shit," she muttered to herself, "the wolf in sheep's clothing decided to tag along." She weaved expertly around the blades, wishing she actually had a weapon to fight him. "Damn homunculus," she growled, shaking off the blood from a superficial scratch she'd obtained on her forearm, "That hurt, you know."

"And not once did you ever refer to me by my title."

She glared at her opponent, her red eyes narrowed. "Sorry, but I don't recognize shitty homunculi as my Fuhrer."

"A shame then. You would have made a fine addition to the Military."

Rather than bother with a proper response to that, she merely flipped him off and jumped back from the blade hissing through the air. Unfortunately, she didn't see the blade flat that smashed into her head and knocked her unconscious.

* * *

Kayla felt something close around the back of her coat and throw her back towards Ed. That something turned out to be a royally pissed Izumi, and it looked like she would take care of this. Confident that the homunculus was going to pay for hurting her mate, she approached him and gently began swabbing off the blood with her tongue. He sighed but made no move to push her away, recognizing it was a strong wolf instinct to lick wounds because of the healing balm in their saliva and even though Kayla's wasn't nearly as strong as a wolf's, it was something far too intense for her to resist cleaning off her mate when he was injured. Besides, it actually felt nice, so he was perfectly content to let his chimera mate lick his wounds clean.

* * *

Greed had never intended for any of his henchmen to die. Instead, because of his past insubordination, the only one left alive was Sonya, and she had only suffered unconsciousness because she had recognized Fuhrer Bradley as a homunculus and called him out on it. With ever second that went by, the train only pulled them closer to their demise. He gently brushed a wayward strand of hair from her face, a surprisingly tender gesture from him, but he no longer cared what the others thought of him. They were both going to die soon, so he saw no reason to deny his feelings for the angel any longer, not when they were so close to the end.

* * *

Knowledge slowly opened his white wings before the Gate, feeling the black hands caress his feathers. He knew now what he must do. He must venture into the mortal realm to prevent Justice from becoming lost forever.

* * *

Ace: Yeah, yeah, I know I'm horrible.

Envy: Isn't that the truth.

Lela: *smacks Envy* Play nice, you.

Kayla: Can I rape Ed now?

Ace: Yeah, sure, after he does the offering.

Ed: Reviewers can still get last chapter's offers of pervert lessons.

Kayla: YAY ED! *tackles*


	22. 22: Push Down the Castle

Ace: Still grounded, but I'm gonna answer reviews now!

Lela: Yay for that!

Envy: Furorensu-Chan, I will not shake your filthy human hand, but I do agree that a truce has been established and yes, I was very determined to hunt you down and gut you like a fish.

Ed: And please, I would NEVER hurt Kayla! But seriously though, do you just read the intros and exits before you review, and then read the story?

Lela: And besides, I'm sure Mustang would be okay with teaching you how to be even more perverted...

Kayla: Yeah, we've been bullying Ace into updating, my new buddy, CSI Aphrodite. Plus, she's really scared of Kimbley. She doesn't want to a-splode, and she's updating as fast as she can right now.

Envy: AND YOU SHOULD TOTALLY BE AFRAID OF ME!

Lela: Envy...

Envy: Shutting up now.

Lela: Good boy.

Ed: Hey look, DarkVampirePrincess8 liked the reward!

Kayla: YAY! THAT MEANS I GET TO TEACH! AND MY FIRST SUBJECT WILL BE ED! *tackles and drags off somewhere*

Lela: And if Lust didn't do something, the ending wouldn't warrant a sequel, now would it?

Envy: I hate Wrath too...

Lela: Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

Envy: Go read, you filthy humans.

* * *

22: Push Down the Castle

Sonya awoke groggily, not wanting to leave the comfort offered by sleep, but the homunculus known as Pride was having none of that. He yanked her up bodily by a chunk of her hair, making her involuntarily cry out in pain, and hissed, "Time to wake up, little demon. You've got an execution to attend."

"For your information, I am anything but a demon, you homunculus scum," she retorted, trying to maintain her normal bitchy attitude when her blood had turned to ice at the very mention of an execution. "Now, where the hell is my lover?"

He laughed cruelly. "Already dead and gone, but don't worry, you're soon to join him."

Her heart shattered. "You little shit," she growled, her eyes blazing red and promising eternal damnation, "I'm gonna fucking kill you myself!" her wings snapped out, effortlessly breaking the metal chains holding her. A powerful darkness seemed to radiate from her as a particular sword appeared in her hand, a life-sized version of the one tattooed on the back of her neck that marked her as the avenging angel Justice.

She knew that if she struck now, it would not be for justice. It would be for revenge, and that revenge would taint her blade forever. She didn't care anymore. Sonya was on a vendetta and did not want to stop until blood permanently stained her hands and blade. But everything changed for her when she saw her oldest sister following obediently behind a homunculus with palm tree attributes. "Hello, Lela. I'm guessing that's your current abuser you're cowering behind. You always did like having one."

"Envy doesn't abuse me!" the cat-girl protested, tail lashing behind her.

"I've lived with a homunculus for three years, sister. I know how they are, and he has to be abusing you." While her sister tried to come up with another response, Sonya gave a little sarcastic wave and simply disappeared into thin air.

* * *

Knowledge urged the black arms faster, sensing that Justice was losing it all over one little homunculus she'd been having an affair with. Surely she had known it would not last? Nothing that dwelled in the mortal realms ever did. Either way, his death had unlocked much of her powers, giving her the potential to do many horrible things. All the young angel could do was hope.

* * *

Lela was furious that Sonya had dared to say that _Envy_, her darling sweet Envy, was abusing her, let alone that Lela liked being abused. She hadn't. Not with their parents, not with the alchemists, and not when Envy had been abusive. Her little sister had a lot of nerve to suggest that! Her tail was twitching angrily, spraying her with the warming water she was going to be taking a shower in while Envy was talking with his master. What did her love's master want with him, she wondered.

* * *

When Edward suggested they take a walk, just the two of them, Kayla was ready to howl with joy. Alone time with her mate was pretty much the ultimate treat for her. She didn't even care it was night-time. Simply being with Ed was more than enough for her. Watching him, she could hardly believe it had taken her so long to realize she was unconsciously courting him rather than merely leaving him firmly at the Alpha status he'd earned. All that she felt now though was a boatload of love, fierce protectiveness, some lust, and a strong sense of satisfaction in knowing he was hers alone. "Kayla?" he said, instantly catching her undivided attention, "I ... love you."

Her heart flew to her throat after expanding to fill her entire chest. She started to say, "I love you too," only to interrupt herself before the last word so that the wolf part of her could push him down and she could rake her claws across thin air just in time to catch them on a thick steel blade that had come out of nowhere. "Sonya!" she cried upon seeing the sword's wielder, "What are you doing?"

"Do you have any idea what I just went home to find?" she whispered brokenly, tears streaming from her red eyes. "I came home expecting to see _bodies_. Bodies that were clearly laid out on the floor where they fell, not worth even a proper burial from those Military bastards in the raid that resulted from _you_ being there, but I didn't find that. Instead, I found the place empty of any of my friends' remains and only a soot-covered corner to tell me their story." She took a deep breath here before continuing. "My friends' bodies had been taken and burned to such a fine powder of ash that it would be impossible to tell the difference between their remains. A fitting Military mass-grave for chimeras, wouldn't you agree, Fullmetal Alchemist?"

Ed didn't answer her; he was too busy looking horrified and slightly ill. Sonya turned to her older sister instead, not even noticing the chimera's claws were still grating sickeningly against her sword. "Rest assured, sister dearest, that I won't kill the man you protect so faithfully since I know firsthand the agony of losing the one you love. But I assure you, should he ever fall out of your favor, I will slice him into so many pieces, they won't be able to even properly identify the body anymore."

Kayla shivered delicately at the threat, but Sonya was already gone, leaving behind the pair with a little more important food for thought that the simply matter of love. What in the world had happened to Sonya during the three years they'd been apart?

* * *

Knowledge fell out of the Gate gasping and trembling delicately. Justice was rapidly falling out of control, spiraling towards evil, towards Revenge. He could not let that happen; never before had an avenging angel seemed to have gained power as she fell like Justice was. If Justice well and truly fell, she could easily have enough power to challenge the Truth and destroy the Gate itself. He had to prevent Justice from succumbing to the evil that was residing in her heart. Unwilling to waste a moment longer, he pulled himself together again, his wings adjusting with a slight fluttering noise, and disappeared from the holy ground.

* * *

Ace: *sigh* I hate having no ideas on how to start the sequel.

Sonya: Why not ask the reviewers?

Greed: Yeah! If you guys give her the recommendation with which character to follow first, she'll start there and go onwards. They're still all gonna be separated, but not for all too long.

Lela: Where were you guys?

Sonya: Beating up the Truth.

Envy: HEY! I WANTED TO GO WITH YOU GUYS!

Greed: Then we'll just have to make a return visit! *all three run off to go abuse the Truth again*

Ace: So who's gonna offer the reward now?

Lela: I will. I offer up the ability to go into the Gate with your choice of character. Or you know, just stalk whomever you want.

Ace: YOU STILL HAVE TO TELL THEM ABOUT THE CHALLENGE!

Lela: *sigh* Okay, Ace says that if she gets 7 reviews before the next chapter, she'll start putting up some of her out-takes and general side-stories for us. Most of 'em involve Kayla, ie giant snowball fight at HQ or the original way Izumi found out about her, and are highly impossible, but she'll let you read them all anyway.

Ace: SO REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW!


	23. 23: Hope Remains But Hidden

Ace: Wahhhhh! It's the last chapter!

Kayla: Wahhhh! We're all gonna have to do horrible things!

Sonya: Oh, stop crying you two. Ace has actually started the sequel now.

Lela: Sonya, if you want to do something productive, go answer the reviews.

Envy: I'll do it 'cuz it's not like I have anything better to do. Furorensu-chan, it does not matter to me whether you wear a glove or not, I refuse to shake hands with a filthy human!

Lela: ENVY, SHAKE HANDS WITH THE REVIEWER!

Envy: Fine. *holds out hand*

Ed: And do I really have to answer your question?

Lela: Okay then, I'll go start a riot next to your house so that Mustang has to show up there.

Kayla: And yay, she chose to follow me!

Sonya: I HATE HATE-MAIL! Alright, anonymous reviewer Blahblahblah, you're going down!

Greed: *sigh* Sonya was actually a character originally made for people to hate, but then Ace decided to make her be good. Don't really blame her so much for everything because Sonya treats her family like that because she's a lot like the other homunculi even though she's not necessarily a homunculus. Her reason for being bitter is actually pretty sound, 'cuz it's not since she's blind. In her flashback, she said she didn't care about being blind. It's more because she was killed solely to create an angel, but she didn't get "purified", so she's not herself.

Sonya: AND I CAN SLEEP WITH GREED BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH I'M ONLY TECHNICALLY 14, I HAVE THE BIOLOGICAL AGE OF ABOUT 20 AND THE INTELLECTUAL AGE OF AGELESS BECAUSE OF THAT STUPID GATE!

Lela: Thanks for the compliment and wishes for me though!

Envy: ... Why am I always a favorite?

Ace: If I knew, I wouldn't tell you anyway.

Envy: Argh, I'm gonna need to kill CSI Aphrodite. She thinks a Kimbley is scarier than I am!

Ace: *hiding under bed now*

Sonya: And she can't follow me 'cuz Lela's doesn't make sense until you look at mine.

Greed: Finally, DarkVampirePrincess8, Ace had to make Sonya go all evil and kill me off because I have to die at some point and we all know that justice sometimes goes to revenge. Plus she needed a reason for Knowledge to come.

Envy: Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

Lela: Good Envy. Now let's go see what our punishment is.

* * *

23: Hope Remains But Hidden

Edward gently turned over Kayla's paws to see a bloody mess of gore that had resulted from her younger sister's sword. She winced but leaned in to lick at a scratch on his cheek from when she'd pushed him down. Her own wounds could wait until after she treated those of her mate. Since her gloved had been rendered a shredded mess, the alchemist tore off part of his shirt to wrap around her paws until he could properly bandage them. Once he was done, he picked her up bridal-style to carry her back to Izumi's house.

Only for her to be ripped from his arms and thrown into a cage on the back of a van by a pair of ninja alchemists (ninja alchemists- alchemists who are well-versed in the art of kidnapping innocent bystanders, in this case Kayla, for profit). He ran forward, clapping his hands together and pressing them to the bars and lock, but those things were alchemy-proof. "I'll get you out of there, Kayla, I promise!"

She shook her head. "No, Edward. Get your bodies back first. I'll survive until then, love." She swallowed hard, weakly attempting some humor. "Us Ark Angels are made of some damn tough stuff."

The van started driving then, separating the two mates. She smiled sadly, holding his gaze until even her wolf eyes couldn't see him anymore before she permitted herself to bury her nose in that faithful little piece of red fabric with Ed's scent and attempt to fall asleep. He, however, stayed there at that very spot he had last been near Kayla long after she was gone, head bowed as he permitted his tears to fall from his closed golden eyes and onto the unforgiving pavement.

* * *

Sonya sat on the roof of the Devil's Nest, openly flaunting to anyone who was watching that there was still a chimera left alive. Her sword had been shoved into the concrete behind her, an open declaration of her alliance with her dead friends. Her high-heeled boots dangled from the side, a show of how little she had left to lose, and the laces of her dress blew in a sudden breeze. She half-turned, her large bat ears twitching, to see another angel walk over and sit beside her. "What the hell do you want?" she snarled irritably.

He smiled at her shyly. "I'm supposed to help you cope with everything, Justice. My name is Knowledge, and I'm very sorry for your loss."

"Screw you," she growled. "You angels know nothing of loss."

He sighed. "No. I have never lost a loved one. We angels do not sicken or die, merely fall, and I have not lived long enough to experience that. That does not mean I cannot attempt to imagine your anguish or sympathize with it."

She growled again. "No, but why must you chose me? Why not someone else?"

"You are the angel Justice. You wield the sword Final Judgment. To kill someone now would be revenge, not justice."

"Then what do you think I should do? Skip through a meadow? Hug a teddy bear?" She laughed wryly. "What do you take me for? I want Greed back." She froze, an idea clicking into her head. "And I can have him back. I died before, then the alchemists brought me back. I bet Lela could bring him back too. I just have to find her."

* * *

Lela was surprised when Envy morosely pushed aside her shower curtain, but since she only sensed sadness and worry about him, not lust, she permitted him to shift off his clothes and climb in with her. Feeling the insecurities causing him to stress out, she wrapped her tail around his wrist as he gently massaged the shampoo and conditioner into her hair and fur. Even after all of the goop was washed out, she still stood there, patiently waiting for him to talk to her and enjoying the sexy intimacy they were sharing. But when she realized that not all the water streaming down his face was from the shower, she panicked. Not caring about their lack of clothes, she gently pulled his head down to bury it in the crook of her neck and stroked him soothingly, attempting to calm him the same way he would for her when she was upset.

They stood there for a long while. Time had little importance in Lela's life anymore, and Envy simply wanted to prolong the moment, never moving on into the future. But it was not to be. At some point soon, the peace would break and the calm would leave them. Having decided the water falling down on them was too much of an annoyance, her tail snaked out and flipped off the water, breaking the spell. Father Time would allow the pair of chimera and homunculus no more reprieves. The moment was gone forever. If he wanted to save her, he had to tell her now. Fresh tears staining the pure lavender of his eyes, he wordlessly took Lela's hand and led her to their room, reclothing her as he shifted his own clothes back on. Then he mutely took her through a labyrinth of tunnels until they were underneath a starry midnight sky. Only then did he disclose the reasons to her.

"Lela," he said, his voice dead. "Father ordered me to kill you because I was starting to care for you more than I did for the mission, carnage, killing, or even causing general mayhem, and I simply don't have the strength to oppose his will for too much more than this." He looked into her shocked emerald eyes, his own showing the true depth of his pain and agony. He wanted her more than he'd ever wanted anything before in his centuries of life, but he simply couldn't keep her anymore. "I love you with every inch of my being, my kitten, which is why I must beg you, from the very bottom of my heart, to run away from me. Run, and don't ever look back. I don't want to kill you, kitten. Really, I don't."

Her eyes shining in sorrow, she kissed him quickly and passionately on the lips before pulling away. She transformed into the large, elegant black panther and loped to the top of a hill before pausing and turning back to the form silhouetted against the darkness of the cave, watching her go. "I will never be able to love anyone else ever again because of you, my little sin." Her piece said, she turned and left the moon behind her to shine on her love, ignoring the wetness gathering around the edge of her eyes with every step she took away from the homunculus.

* * *

Ace: Wahhh! I hate my ending!

Lela: So you'll change it?

Ace: Heck no! I hate it, but I can't change it now!

Kayla: I still can't believe you started crying as you wrote this, your parents asked you what you were doing, you told them you were killing off one of your characters, and they actually bought it.

Ace: I can't either.

Greed: I hate being dead.

Envy: I hate being told to kill Lela.

Ed: I hate being stolen from by ninja alchemists.

Lela: I hate being forced to run away.

Sonya: I hate being followed by a creeper angel.

Kayla: I hate being kidnapped by ninjas.

Ace: I hate that we're not gonna answer reviews until chapter 2 of the sequel.

Roy: Basically, what Ace is saying is that all you reviewers are off the hook until the sequel, but please, still feel free to press that little button down there!

Ace: Roy Mustang, what are you doing here? This is a sad scene.

Roy: Oh. I'm gonna go away now.

Ace: You do that. Go find Furorensu-chan and make her day.

Roy: Okey-dokey! *runs off*

Ace: *sigh* Not sure when the sequel will come up, but until then, please enjoy the cut stories of Cat'O'Untold'Tales. I'm not putting up the link to it though. You guys can go find it yourselves.


	24. TEASER!

Ace: Guess what? I finished the first chapter of the sequel! *dances*

Kayla: Okay readers, Ace hasn't put it up yet, but the story name is _Angels Plus Alchemy Equals Hope?_ and it can be found in the same old places once Ace puts it up.

Lela: But better yet, we persuaded Ace to put up the first part of her chapter as a teaser for you guys until her sequel comes out officially!

Sonya: Ace5980 does not own FullMetal Alchemist.

* * *

1: Trapped in a Cage

Specimen 17 shifted in her cage pitifully, wincing as her long scabs from the whipping rubbed against each other. Glazed yellow eyes followed the movements of the alchemist observing her, unable to summon more than a passing interest with all the drugs in her system. Attention waning, she pulled her dull gray tail close to her dirty fur matted with blood and let her eyes slide shut. Sometimes she didn't know why she remained here, remained alive. Then her nose would find the threadbare piece of red fabric tied around her wrist, and she would remember soft gold and cold metal.


End file.
